In West Mills

The events of In West Mills begin during the Jim Crow era, continue through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, and conclude in the 1980s, spanning a period that saw significant social upheaval and legal reform regarding the status of Black people in the United States. What evidence, if any, can you find that the lives of the characters in In West Mills were impacted by these changes?

Knot and her father prefer to speak in their native colloquial dialect rather than adopt the higher register preferred by Dinah. What affordances does their chosen mode of expression offer them that are not available in the other register? Highlight several examples.

After Knot’s family severs their ties with her, she imagines Otis Lee tell her that, in West Mills, “she always had a family as long as he lived” (84). What constitutes a “family,” under Knot’s new understanding, and which characters might she consider as being part of that family?