King Coal · Chapter
III explained
Hal Warner, bruised and starving after his beating at the mine, spends a day fasting by a brook and a miserable night in a thunderstorm.
What happens
Hal Warner, bruised and starving after his beating at the mine, spends a day fasting by a brook and a miserable night in a thunderstorm. He reflects on the similarities between a coal mine and a football field. The next day he buys prunes with scrip at a store, then finds shelter with a one-legged watchman who fears losing his job if caught helping a suspected union organizer. Hal sleeps and is given corn bread and onions before continuing his journey, feeling he is returning to America.
Themes in this chapter
Class Conflict and Exploitation
Hal experiences the exploitation of miners firsthand: high prices for prunes, scrip discount, and the watchman's fear of losing his job for helping a stranger.
Futility of Individual Resistance
Hal's attempt to get a job fails, and the watchman's caution shows how individual acts of kindness are suppressed by the threat of job loss.
Characters to notice
- Hal Warner
Hal is recovering from his beating, fasting, and reflecting on his experiences. He buys prunes with scrip and finds shelter with a watchman.
Key passages
““Bill” had said that a coal mine was not a football field, but it seemed to Hal that the net impress of the two was very much the same.”
Hal reflects that the violence and brutality of the mine are similar to the rough physicality of football.
Hal draws a parallel between the physical dangers of mining and the sport he knows.
“Over the counter he saw a sign: “We buy scrip at ten percent discount.””
The store offers to buy company-issued scrip for 90% of its face value, highlighting the exploitative wage system.
Scrip was a form of company money that devalued workers' earnings.
““When a man has grey hair on his head and only one leg, he might as well be drowned in the creek as lose his job.””
The watchman says that losing his job would be as fatal as drowning, showing the extreme dependence on employment.
The watchman's fear illustrates the power the company holds over workers' lives.