Short Fiction · Chapter
Christmas by Injunction explained
In the mining town of Yellowhammer, Cherokee plans a grand Christmas celebration with a tree and gifts, but the town has no children.
What happens
In the mining town of Yellowhammer, Cherokee plans a grand Christmas celebration with a tree and gifts, but the town has no children. Trinidad and the Judge set out to borrow children from nearby settlements, facing repeated refusals. They eventually secure one skeptical boy, Bobby, from Granite Junction. The chapter highlights the community's efforts to fulfill Cherokee's altruistic vision despite the absence of youth.
Themes in this chapter
Humor and Irony
The irony of a town without children preparing an elaborate Christmas for kids, and the humorous efforts of Trinidad and the Judge to borrow children from reluctant parents.
Ambition and Failure
Cherokee's ambitious plan to bring Christmas joy is undermined by the town's lack of children, and the canvassers face repeated rejections.
Characters to notice
- Trinidad
Leads the effort to borrow children for Cherokee's Christmas celebration, driving a wagon and negotiating with parents.
- The Judge
Accompanies Trinidad, using his eloquence to persuade parents to lend their children for the Christmas event.
- Cherokee
The wealthy miner who plans a lavish Christmas tree and gifts for the children of Yellowhammer, unaware that the town has no children.
- Baldy
Informs the townspeople of Cherokee's Christmas plans and the lack of children in Yellowhammer.
- Bobby
A skeptical boy from Granite Junction who agrees to join the Christmas celebration after being promised a rifle.
Key passages
“It’s creepin’ upon my faculties,” remarked Trinidad, “that borrowin’ kids at Christmas is somethin’ like tryin’ to steal butter from a man that’s got hot pancakes a-comin’.””
Trinidad realizes that borrowing children at Christmas is as difficult as stealing butter from someone who is about to eat hot pancakes.
Trinidad uses a folksy metaphor to express the difficulty of their mission.
“I’d count it a mercy if you’d take Bobby for a while,” she said, wearily. “I’m on the go from morning till night, and I don’t have time to ’tend to him.””
The exhausted mother at Granite Junction is relieved to let Bobby go with Trinidad and the Judge, as she cannot care for him properly.
The mother's weariness highlights the challenges of frontier life and her willingness to part with her child temporarily.