Fair and Tender Ladies

Part 5 picks up two years after Part 5 ends, as Ivy stops writing for a time following LuIda’s death. This part covers the years from 1942 until sometime after 1974—the longest time span covered in any of the book’s sections. Ivy writes fairly regularly for a few years and then seldom for the remaining stretch of time, a change that suggests she tires of writing or has little left to say. Her letters in this section are mostly to her children, though she still writes to Silvaney as a form of diary.

When Ivy picks up writing again, electricity has arrived in Sugar Fork, and Ivy’s family uses the radio to listen to baseball and news about World War II. Ivy feels trapped and sad following LuIda’s death, but she also feels that “I deserve it all!” (280). Geneva tells Ivy not to worry so much. Oakley keeps an eye on Ivy, who occasionally joins him in church to make him happy.

Ivy hears from Garnie for the first time in decades. Ethel’s husband dies. Ivy advises Joli not to marry her sweetheart. Garnie comes to Sugar Fork, and Ivy writes that, “if he is going to heaven then I will rot in hell and be happy about it” (292).