This is your not your traditional novel, with a central plot and story line with main characters who revolve around down, increasing and diminishing in importance throughout the books. Kettle Bottom is a collection of multiple poems, placed together in an order that follows the sequence of events through 1920 and 1921, revolving around the coal wars, written by Diane G. Fisher. Each poem has different narrators, usually coal miners or family members of the coal miners listing their grievances against the powerful coal companies and the life-threatening conditions these workers are forced to mine in. By using multiple different characters from a variety of viewpoints - foreign immigrants, young daughters, aging uncles, and so on - Fisher is able to portray the coal wars in their entirety and from every angle.
Kettle Bottom contains a total of 50 poems about the coal wars, usually focusing in on West Virginia. The first two-thirds of these poems highlight the personal tragedies coal families went through in these harsh times, while the final portion of the book contains poems which discuss the political aspect of the coal wars. This is mainly the labor battles and the fights for unions and rights by workers against the massive coal companies and their wealthy executives. This was an era in America where the government and the country reacted harshly against unions and labor strikes, often calling the National Guard in to kill and suppress protesters, making it extremely difficult for coal workers to obtain labor rights. It was also a time period when the wealth gap between classes was expanding and society was split into the insanely wealthy and the dirt poor.
Fisher's novel does an excellent job using historical allusions and connections to build the basis of the book and its main theme. The coal wars that took place in America during the 1920's was a real event. Fisher adds to the authenticity by including historically pertinent details such as the fact that coal workers were desperate and faced horrific conditions underground while having to deal with cruel mine guards once they came back from their mine shafts. Although all the narratives in the story are said to be fantasy, they build off of the basic historical facts of this time period and allow Fisher to construct an appealing narrative.
This narrative is based around pathos, which is a rhetorical technique writers employ to appeal to the emotions of the reader and invoke a certain feeling in the audience so that they may agree with or be persuaded by the writer. Fisher uses pathos by sharing the stories of families in her poems, a core aspect of every person's life, and describes how the families are shredded apart and left in desolation after the deaths of certain family workers in the coal mines. Fisher also vividly describes the overwhelming grief felt by members of the family in order to allow the reader to empathize with them and support their struggle. Overall, Kettle Bottom is a unique way to cover a dark period in American history that is often overlooked and ignored.
