The Time of Man Book Report Written by Elizabeth Madox Roberts

The Time of Man Book Report

The Time of Man was written by Elizabeth Madox Roberts and was published by the Viking Press in 1926. The story is set in the countryside of Kentucky. This novel tells the story of Ellen Chesser and her family’s everyday struggle to survive as tenant farmers. The book begins with the Chesser’s traveling in search for a better life. While on this journey their wagon breaks down and Ellen’s father Henry is offered a job on Heb Bodine’s farm. Heb Bodine, a wealthy plantation owner, offers Henry twenty dollars a month, a tenant house, and a garden spot. Henry accepts the offer and the Chesser’s begin their “new life” as lower class tenant farmers. The Chesser family faces many obstacles throughout the book that brings out many themes that the author is trying to show.

During this time period, everyone was worried about what social class they belonged to, which made people fixate on what image they should portray. Land seemed to be pretty important to Henry and others living his lifestyle. Acquiring your own piece of land was connected with being part of the upper class. Henry and his family work the land while wealthy people like Heb Bodine own it. The book explains the class structure during this period. The wealthy people were those who owned their own farms. Next were the merchants that sold goods in town, and at the bottom were those who worked on the wealthy people’s farms. Roberts’ connects religion and church to class structure and links church with those who were upper class.

The animals and crops on the farms that the Chesser’s worked on played an important role in the book. In the late 1800’s there were no automobiles, which made horses very important for transportation both into town and to church. The crops could not be produced without the assistance of animals that were used to plow the fields. Like many country farms today, many of the animals and crops were sources of nourishment for those that lived on the farm. Because the characters of the book lived and worked on a farm, the seasons of the year were very significant. Everything relied around the harvest. Depending on what season it was, they would either be harvesting the crops, storing crops for the winter, or planting new crops the following spring.

The role the Chesser’s have in society and as a family are major themes discussed in the novel. In this period, families were structured around the father being the head of the family and as the main provider for his family. I think that this is why Henry takes so much pride for the hard work that he puts in for his family. The wife was responsible for raising the children and keeping house. Usually families were very large. Families would have multiple children because