Clay Sizemore Is Torn Between

Clay Sizemore Is Torn Between the Spiritual World of His Aunt Easter

and the secular world of his "brother" Cake, and he feels uneasy in both worlds.

Clay is uncomfortable in the spiritual world of his aunt.

"Just as with the honkytonk lifestyle, however, the church does not satisfy Clay's needs. At thirteen, in fact, he leaves church during the service to sneak off up the mountain" (Blythe, Sweet, and Rahimzadeh).

Clay and Cake are best friends, and they live a carefree, almost hedonistic lifestyle according to Easter.

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing the same damn thing ever Saturday.

There's too much to see in this life to see it drunk'" (House 134).

The quilt represents the many facets and layers of his life, and plays a central part in the book.

a. "Clay watched the needle and thread, the scraps of fabric pulling into one another, separate one second and part of a whole the next. Clay has spent many evenings her, watching Paul make the quilts" (House 37).

5. Clay's life is like a crazy quilt, it is missing pieces and he has to put them together to move onward with his life.

a. "Clay has to piece together his past and his memories, much like his great-uncle Paul

pieces together scraps of fabric to make a crazy quilt" (West).

6. Clay realizes that he has to change, and that it is inevitable.

a. 'That's what life's about, buddy, change. This [marriage] is a change I want.... I need to start a new life'" (209).

7. Clay's redemption comes from another who cannot accept either world as her own.

a. "At last, Clay has that which he has never truly had -- a family of his own. Now the void inside him that neither the church nor the honky-tonk could fill overflows with joy as he kisses Alma repeatedly" (Blythe, Sweet, and Rahimzadeh).

Clay's Quilt

This paper analyzes the book "Clay's Quilt" by Silas House. Specifically, it discusses the character of Clay in the novel, and the pull he feels between religion and a more worldly life.

The novel tells the story of Clay Sizemore, a young coal miner in Appalachia. He spends much of his time with Cake, his "brother," but actually his nephew, since he is his aunt Easter's son. Clay is growing up and questioning his lifestyle, while Cake only wants things to remain the same. Clay Sizemore is torn between the spiritual world of his aunt Easter and the secular world of his "brother" Cake, and he feels uneasy in both worlds.

Clay is uncomfortable in the spiritual world of his aunt. She has taken him to church since he was a small boy because she believes the church is the most important thing in life. She tells Clay, "You've got to learn the ways of the Lord, Clay. I've got to give that to you. I'm the only one will" (House 47). By the time he is a teen however, he has already started to look for something else to satisfy him. Three literary critics note, "Just as with the honky-tonk lifestyle, however, the church does not satisfy

Clay's needs. At thirteen, in fact, he leaves church during the service to sneak off up the mountain" (Blythe, Sweet, and Rahimzadeh). Clay knows the church is too restrictive for him, but he also realizes that his carefree lifestyle is not the way to continue living. He is maturing, and he wants more than drinking and partying in life.

Clay and Cake are best friends, and they live a carefree, almost hedonistic lifestyle according to Easter. They spend much of their weekend in the Hilltop Club, drinking, smoking, and listening to music. The author writes, "Besides, Clay liked being dressed up and having somewhere to go, liked knowing that he could walk into the club and know everyone there, that he could hold up a dollar bill and have a cold beer delivered to him" (House 52-53). Cake is totally happy to spend the rest of his life this way, but Clay wants something more, and that is a central theme in this book. Clay is on the road to manhood, and his needs and wants are changing, and he recognizes that. He tells Cake, "I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing the same damn thing ever Saturday. There's too much to see in this life to see it drunk'" (House 134). Clay does not want to lose Cake's friendship, but he does not want to remain in the same rut, either. He is maturing, and he will leave Cake behind if he has to as he searches for more meaning and substance to his life. He will not turn to the church, however, because that does not fit in his world, either.

The quilt represents the many facets and layers of Clay's life, and plays a central part in the book. The title of the book is "Clay's Quilt," which shows what an important image the quilt is to this character. Early in the book, he watches Paul work on a quilt in the living room. House writes, "Clay watched the needle and thread, the scraps of fabric pulling into one another, separate one second and part of a whole the next. Clay has spent many evenings her, watching Paul make the quilts" (House 37). He is fascinated by the quilt and his great-uncle's talents, but more than that, he is convinced that the quilt his uncle made for him is the thing that will tie his young family together and give them their own legacy. Another critic notes, "While he struggles to understand himself and to piece together his own life story from bits of memory and handed-down family history, his Uncle Paul, the family quilter, is painstakingly creating a family album made of cloth" (Stankard). Clay receives the quilt, made from his mother's clothing, after his uncle dies, and it helps complete his character and make him whole again. The author writes, "He snapped the quilt out onto the air and let it settle on the living room floor. Alma got right down on her knees and ran her fingers over the find stitching" (House 290). The quilt is the element that really brings them together, makes them a family, and allows Clay to move on with his life. It is a tie to his mother and a link to the past, but it is really the thing he needed to know where he stands in the world, and what is right for him. He does not need the secular or the spiritual world to fill him up; he can listen to his own voice and create a life that is right for him and his family.

Clay's life is like a crazy quilt, it is missing pieces, and he has to put them together to move onward with his life. He barely remembers his mother, knows she was murdered but little else, and that is one of the things that drives his character. He is missing a past and the love of a mother, and it leaves a whole in him that he cannot seem to fill. Another critic notes, "Clay has to piece together his past and his memories, much like his great-uncle Paul pieces together scraps of fabric to make a crazy quilt" (West). A pivotal moment for him and his growth as a person is when Easter gives him the Bible box that was his mother's, complete with a letter she wrote to him. Another critic notes, "But the past concerns him, too: given a box of his beloved mother's possessions, he pieces together her troubled history, while his great-uncle pieces a quilt from her clothing" (Zaleski 57). The letter is pivotal to Clay's maturing and his ability to love someone else and start a family, because it sews up many of the holes in his life and helps answer lingering questions about his mother, and the man who was his father. House writes, "Clay put his face into his hands and began to cry the long, mournful weeping of true grief. He felt as if he had just sat down and talked to his mother" (House 125). This is when Clay's character really begins to change, because he has been able to grieve for his mother, he knows more about his background, and he understands his own feelings a lot better.

Clay realizes that he has to change, and that it is inevitable. He tells Cake about his marriage, "That's what life's about, buddy, change. This is a change I want.... Well, I've thought long and hard about it, and it's what I want. I need to start a new life'" (House 209). Alma and he will start a new life together, and he can create a new family that will remain intact and create the roots he has been looking for throughout the book. His character matures into a man, with the help of Alma and her love. Knowing about his past and acknowledging the pain it has caused him help him mature as a person, and it gives him the ability to truly love someone and settle down with them.