48 pages • 1 hour read
Billie LettsWhere the Heart Is
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Cultural Context: 1980s Oklahoma
The novel begins in 1987. This is a time before cellphones, home computers, and social media. People still communicated face to face rather than through text messages or direct messages. They got the majority of their knowledge from libraries or from other people knowledgeable in a specific trade or subject. In this novel, Novalee Nation learns about photography from books and her friend, Moses Whitecotton. Her desire for knowledge on how to care for a buckeye tree leads Novalee to the library where she meets the librarian’s brother, Forney Hull, for the first time. If she had Google, it is unlikely she would have needed the information that led to her becoming such close friends with either Forney or Moses.
The book is set in a small town in Oklahoma called Sequoyah. Due to the town’s size, Novalee quickly becomes known in the community and makes many friends as a result. At the same time, however, Novalee becomes a subject of gossip shortly after Americus is born and her situation is revealed. Without social media, however, interest in Novalee’s story quickly wanes, and she is able to have a normal, comfortable life in Sequoyah.
Oklahoma is on the bottom portion of what is called tornado alley, a section of the United States that stretches from Nebraska to Texas. Oklahoma saw 23 tornados in 1987 that injured eight people overall. In this novel, a tornado destroys the home Novalee and Americus share with Sister Husband, and it takes the life of Sister Husband. Due to Oklahoma’s location in tornado alley, this event is not unusual for the area, though it is tragic.
Socio-historical Context: Religious and Superstitious Beliefs
Religion is a recurring theme in this novel, both through Sister Husband’s beliefs and those of fanatics who reach out to Novalee after Americus’s birth. Sister Husband is a gentle woman who embraces the Bible and other tenets of a Christian lifestyle. While Sister Husband gives out copies of chapters from the Bible, she does not force her beliefs on other people. At the same time, Letts introduces religious fanatics who make threats against Novalee and Americus when news of the child’s birth in a Walmart hits the news cycle.
The author introduces these two extremes of religion to show the peace some people can find in believing in something bigger than themselves, while also exposing how some can take these beliefs to an extreme. The fanatic couple used their religious beliefs to justify passing judgment over a young mother and her child, going as far as to take the child from the mother and place her in a position of danger. By doing so, the author criticizes society’s habit of attempting to force one set of values from a minority on the majority.
The author also presents a character with a superstition as another form of belief. Novalee has an idea that seven is an unlucky number. Whenever a seven comes up, something bad happens in Novalee’s life. The first example of this is when Willy Jack abandons Novalee at a Walmart in her seventh month of pregnancy after she receives $7.77 in change at Walmart. When Americus is seven months old, she is kidnapped. And when Americus turns seven, her father is robbed and left abandoned in Oklahoma. However, what Novalee does not see is that there is a positive to some of the sevens in her life. For example, she finds friendships and love in Sequoyah after Willy Jack abandons her. One time, she calls Forney, and he answers on the seventh ring, then tells her he wants to be with her and Americus. Again, Letts introduces two extremes of a belief.
Socio-historical Context: View of Society on Lower Classes
The main characters in this novel, except for Forney, are all people from vulnerable communities and socioeconomic statuses. Novalee Nation was raised in the foster care system after her neglectful mother abandoned her. She becomes pregnant at seventeen and gives birth not long after her eighteenth birthday. Lexie Coop was only fifteen when her first child was born, and she has five children by the time the novel ends. Sister Husband is an older woman who struggled with alcohol addiction earlier in her life and who has embraced religion in her recovery. Moses Whitecotton is a proud Black man, and Benny Goodluck is a frustrated but bright Sac and Fox Indian.
Throughout the novel, Letts comments on society’s opinion of these groups. She shows the bias against an uneducated mother in both the letters Novalee receives in the hospital after Americus’ birth and Novalee’s own insecurities when she signs up for a college course. Letts has several characters referred to by the wrong names, such as the Walmart manager calling Moses “Mose” on multiple occasions to show how people disrespect others of different classes. Letts also shows how highly educated people like Forney are sometimes treated as though they are odd or somehow outside of accepted social parameters because of their schooling. Letts uses both Forney’s intelligence and Novalee’s insecurity to pull them apart in the moment they have finally admitted their mutual affection for one another.
