Switch County, Kentucky is the rural area depicted in the novel Hardcastle by John Yount. Once a peaceful, rural farming community, it was transformed into a mining region during the Industrial Revolution of the early 1900s. It quickly lost its ties to subsistence agriculture and traded all its positives for the dirty downsides of the coal mining. Although Yount honestly explores the difficulty of subsistence farming as opposed to the tempting security that coal mining seemed to offer in the 1930s, he concludes that farming was still a better lifestyle. Through the events and attitudes described in Hardcastle, he suggests that the industrial and technological modernity that replaced subsistence agriculture in Appalachia left its residents deprived of a sufficient quality of life – particularly joy, pride and basic security. Describing life in a coal town in detail and through the eyes of a well-developed character with whom the audience can easily identify, Yount sees everything – especially farming – as a better life than mining. mining. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Although it wasn't easy to make a living on the rocky soil of Appalachia, many families managed to do so. Unfortunately, as the demand for coal increased, so did the demand for land, so it became increasingly difficult to hang on to (Brooks). Subsistence farmers are people who “grow what they eat, build their own homes, and live without regularly shopping at the market” (Waters). Like coal mining, subsistence farming involves a lot of manual labor. In Hardcastle, Bill Music attempts to prepare Regus for a life of subsistence farming, listing many things they must accomplish, including building and installing rabbit gums, setting up a plow, building a hayloft in the barn, redo the north wall, repair all the barriers – and that’s just the beginning. When it comes to farming, “if you hope to make a decent living from it, you have all kinds of work to do – big and small” (Yount 186). However, Yount sheds a much more positive light on subsistence farming, creating a sense of hope about manual labor that allows a man to be his own boss, working to directly feed himself and his family. Unlike subsistence farming, coal mining is focused on making money. When coal mining began, indigenous farmers were the first to be hired, radically changing their way of life. Later, as the industry continued to grow and more labor was needed, immigrant miners and many black families flooded the cities, ready to work. This led the coal company to take over otherwise peaceful and self-sustaining towns throughout Appalachia (Brooks). However, one of the systems that contributed to the success of early coal mining was the convict leasing system. In this, states literally rented out prisoners to work as unpaid miners. This allowed for an unlimited supply of labor thanks to the laws of the time, which quickly put men in jail for even minor offenses (Jones). Paid miners realized the negative impact of this practice on their wages and numerous strikes were organized.Some even launched “bold, nighttime armed attacks on the prison grounds in an effort to free the convicts” (Jones). However, as at Hardcastle, this strike had no lasting effect and the companies ultimately won. Criminals from the convict leasing program were even used against striking miners to break picket lines. Although it was eventually abolished in 1892, the convict leasing system significantly reduced the cost of coal, making it easier to extract and allowing the expansion of mining (Jones). Other factors made coal such an important industry - primarily in the South. First, Southern coal was superior to Northern coal, but it was also cheaper. This was accomplished due to "the geological location of mountain coal which made mining easier" (Jones). Additionally, trains charged less for longer journeys, and therefore transport was cheaper. The most important factor in the coal boom that allowed corporations to take over much of the peaceful agriculture of Appalachia was the ever-increasing demand for coal energy, the increase being the more spectacular in the South (Jones). Appalachia has also been targeted in the industrial sector. the revolution as a place in desperate need of cultural and spiritual improvement. Jones discusses how "civilized" outsiders thought Appalachia was a "backward" place, inhabited by backward people. He states that: Visitors to the North identified the mountain peoples with other "backward peoples" whom the major industrial nations of the time sought to develop and to whom the term "natives" was commonly applied. As coal brought attention to Appalachia, the outside world worked to culturally improve the mountain populations and bring them into the industrial age. Saving mountain populations was also a driving force in many efforts in Appalachia, as exemplified by the “massive national Protestant mission movement” of the late 1800s and early 1900s (Jones). However, in these attempts, no consideration was given to the fact that the people of Appalachia did not view themselves as negatively as the rest of the world saw them and had no desire to improve themselves. Throughout this expansion, the coal industry continued to grow. Although the market was often volatile and unpredictable, demand for coal exploded in the early 1900s with the Industrial Revolution. The new railroads that were being built throughout Appalachia became the critical factor that led to the expansion of coal. With railroads making it easier to transport coal, all that remained was to get it out of the ground as quickly as possible. Miners worked in harsh conditions, often being injured or even killed in the mines (Brooks). They also worked for very low wages because the companies they worked for constantly competed to undercut sales than others, which affected employees' wages (Yount, 161). Additionally, because the company owned everything in the coal towns, its workers accepted the poor conditions often without complaint, knowing that unions were banned, and "one landless miner and his family became homeless after leaving his employment” (Jones). Unfortunately, the farmers who turned to mining never saw the expected profits from the new coal industry. Or, as Worth Enloe explained to Bill Music, "The problem,it was that every time an operator came here to dig coal and get rich, there were a hundred poor sons of bitches who threw down their plows and started digging it for him” (Yount 76). .Yount views joy as an important aspect of the lives of the people of Switch County, as the lack of joy in his characters – under the oppression of the coal company – is evident. For example, mining families are full of anger at the company, knowing they are being taken advantage of, but unable to stop it. When Music and Regus propose the new mining contract, Merlee Taylor greets them with such anger “that, for a moment, Music was silent” (Yount 72). His anger can be easily understood when we consider the contents of the contract. For example, Kenton Hardcastle reserves the right to immediately evict a family from its corporate accommodation “for violating any regulations” – particularly for having anything to do with a union. Furthermore, signing it means “forgoing any benefits or protections to which [one] might otherwise be entitled under the law” (Yount 70). Unfortunately, the poor have no choice but to sign the contract if they want to be paid or continue living in their company shacks. People have no respect for the man they work for, due to events similar to the signing of this contract, and therefore have found no joy in their work. Another great example of the lack of joy in the lives of these miners is found in the way the company treats its men. When a worker is suspected of having anything to do with a union, they are automatically fired and forced to leave their home – which the company provided for them. Not only is he told to leave his house, but his belongings are literally piled into trucks and taken away before he has a chance to move them himself. The men in the trucks then drive toward the coal company property line and the family's belongings are "thrown to the side of the road" (Yount 211). As in the case of the families abandoned in the Regus construction site, the ex-miner, his wife and his children are left to fend for themselves in the dust of the vans, humiliated and homeless (Yount 212). This situation is surely enough to drive any hard-working man to the brink of insanity or, at the very least, to completely break his morale. Regus Lawn on “Judgment Day” (Yount 211). For example, the Hardcastle coal company does not generously care for the families of the men who die in its mines. Merlee Taylor is a very young widow who must support her aging aunt and her baby. Kenton Hardcastle charges no rent for the humble cabin he lets them stay in, but he gives them no monetary support, although their only source of income has died in his hands. Women like Merlee find themselves broken, distrustful, and extremely angry, never knowing where they will find their next meal (Yount 72). The security the company offers is thin and easy to lose, and therefore not worth the effort of working for it. On the other hand, when families escape the control of the coal company, the relief and camaraderie they find in being responsible for one's own life is celebrated. For example, when Squatterville is created, the men "hold Music and Regus in high regard", and many even make a point of "apologizing for having had a low opinion of them in the past" (Yount 216). As Squatterville residents find respect for those responsible, attitudes improve. Humor is even present when citizens name their.