The American South in the 1960s was defined by cultural upheaval that mirrored the changing social and cultural norms across the country, as women and racial minorities—particularly Black Americans—fought for equality under the law. These changes clashed with the history of white supremacy and Christian conservativism that persisted in many Southern communities, especially rural areas and small towns not connected to urban centers. Small-town life in Southern states like Arkansas typically revolved around close-knit communities where Evangelical Protestantism was deeply embedded in everyday life. Religious institutions played central roles not only in worship but also in social identity, moral norms, and community operations, which reinforced traditional gender and racial biases. The civil rights movement, second-wave feminism, and the social changes that followed challenged these long-held practices and beliefs.

The civil rights movement created a cultural confrontation with deeply held theological interpretations of the Bible in the South, which justified patriarchal white supremacy (Gjelten, Tom. “White Supremacist Ideas Have Historical Roots in U.S. Christianity.” National Public Radio, 1 July 2020). Many churches resisted desegregation and justified doing so by using scripture in ways that enforced racial hierarchies. In this interpretation of the Christian Bible, God makes white men intellectually and morally superior to Black people and other non-white ethnic groups, and it is white men’s job to guide and control them. In patriarchal Christianity, men are considered intellectually and morally superior to women as well, and women are supposed to be obedient to their husbands.

As civil rights activism and feminism gained national visibility, some white congregants and clergy began to reconsider these interpretations, but violence and resistance were the most common responses to the prospect of social and cultural change. The novel dramatizes these conflicts, particularly in the violence that women like Genevieve, Wreath, and her daughters suffer at the hands of abusive, controlling men, and shows the extreme measures they must take to free themselves. Racial violence remains in the background but contributes to the overall tension and fear that persists in the novel’s Southern setting.