When the Jessamine Grows

Joetta’s neutrality in the Civil War creates numerous problems with her family and her town in the novel, but she remains determined to follow her morals. Joetta does not want to become involved in the war and wants her life to remain peaceful and simple on the farm. She and Ennis come into conflict with Rudean over his glorification of the war and his encouragement of their sons to support the Confederate cause. For this reason, Henry becomes frustrated with his parents and isolates himself from them before leaving to volunteer, after which Ennis goes after him. The townspeople, especially Joetta’s friend Bess Caldwell, do not support Joetta’s neutrality, viewing her as “disloyal,” and even some in the church say she and Ennis “must be Unionists” (64). The townspeople believe that if Joetta is not with the Confederates, then she is against them. She finds this black-and-white, absolutist thinking ridiculous and unreasonable, as she feels they should see her as neutral and not an enemy. As the townspeople become less tolerant of Joetta’s neutrality, Robert—who is already angry about his father leaving—blames Joetta for their retaliatory acts, such as the men’s destruction of some of the crops after she gave water to Union soldiers and the man running him and Joetta off the road. Though Joetta briefly wears Henry’s cockade and tries to show support for the Confederacy, she cannot hide her beliefs and the town does not believe her efforts are genuine. Eventually, she gives up, realizing her beliefs will never change and the townspeople know it.

Her adherence to morals no matter the consequences strengthens when she meets and takes in Charlie. Her explanation of her desire to help others no matter their allegiance and Charlie’s arrival allow Robert to understand her position: she does not want to “let anyone suffer, not if I can help them. It would go against my beliefs” (251). He, thus, sides with and supports her and Charlie. Rudean also starts understanding Joetta’s negative view of war more, with Robert revealing that “he told me he wished he’d ever talked so much about the war” after Ennis’s presumed death (336). Rudean also accepts her neutrality, especially after Charlie joins them. Many people in town refuse to believe Charlie’s story and continue to believe he is a Union spy. As a result, their actions toward Joetta become more aggressive and violent: The soldiers searching for Charlie steal the McBrides’ livestock, Joetta is branded a traitor, and the overseer Miller starts looking for her. Later, when Harold sees Charlie, there is an implied threat of imminent danger that forces Joetta and the boys to leave. In the final acts of violent retaliation against Joetta’s neutrality, someone burns down the house in an attempt to kill Joetta and the boys and Miller tries to kill Joetta when he sees she survived the fire. In the end, they survive until the end of the war, despite setbacks and isolation. As the novel closes, Elmore Finley is interested in Joetta’s story and her neutrality during conflict is highlighted as admirable determination.