1. The story of A Painted House takes place during the 1950’s outside of a small city called Black Oak, Arkansas. A young boy, Luke Chandler, who dreams of playing baseball for the Cardinals, lives on a farm with his parents and grandparents, and they grow cotton for a living. When the time comes to pick the cotton, Mexicans and hill people are hired on farms all over to help pick the cotton. The Chandlers hire ten Mexicans and the Spruill family. For weeks they all worked hard to pick the cotton and earn money, battling the exhausting heat. Hank Spruill, a large, mean member of the Spruill family, was dangerous and fought three men in the city one day, leaving one dead. The police, or Stick Powers, were out to get Hank because everyone knew it was him. The Mexicans did not get along with the Spruill family and they were separated at all times, except for the Spruill’s daughter Tally and Cowboy the Mexican, who ran away together in the hopes of marrying each other. Hank Spruill, being wanted by the police and causing so much trouble on the farm, decided to sneak away in the night and return home. However, as he was leaving, he had an encounter with Cowboy, who stabbed him and threw him in the River. Luke had an older cousin, Ricky, who was fighting in the war in Korea had gotten a girl pregnant before leaving. Her name was Libby Latcher and she, as well as the rest of the Latcher family, was dirt poor, which was embarassing to the Chandler family. The youngest Spruill, Trot, had begun to paint the Chandlers house at some point in his stay. Having a painted house signified that the family had money of some sort and Trot did this because Hank had made fun of Luke for not having a painted house and being poor. The Chandler family struggled through the picking season until in October, a flood came. The flood ruined what was left of the cotton, meaning alot of money was lost. The Mexicans left and so did the Spruills. After the Spruills left, Luke took upon the job of completing the painting of the house, and the Mexicans helped him until they also left to find more work. The Latcher’s home flooded and they had to come live with the Chandlers and stay in the barn, allowing the Chandlers to see Libby’s baby, who was also kin to them. In the end, with the flooding so bad and the amount of money they had so low, Luke and his parents decided to flee to the North, where Luke’s father would work in a Buick plant with his family member Jimmy Dale. The family hoped to earn money and give themselves a better life.