`` Storming Heaven `` As Well As By John Sayles 's Movie, Matewan

A background into the first film Matewan, tells the story of an incident in the struggle to unionize the Mingo County in the West Virginia coalfield. The film begins underground with a coalface being blown and the news is passed round that the Stone Mountain Company has imposed a wage cut. Joe Kenehan, the protagonist is a union organizer on his way to Matewan by train (Sayles, Renzi, & Rajski, 1987). The Matrix on the other hand depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called "the Matrix", created by conscious machines to moderate the human population. Neo, the protagonist in Matrix, takes the 'red pill' and is reborn into the reality of Earth 2199, where he learns about the exploitation of humans (Wachowski et al., 1999).

Everyday, people are forced to make choices. Some of those choices are fairly easy to make, and others are not. In the short story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O’Connor, a man by the name of Tom T. Shiftlet stumbles across a farm where an old woman and her daughter, Lucynell Crater, reside. When the author first introduces the readers to Mr. Shiftlet, he is described as “a tramp and no one to be afraid of” (674). What starts as a man accidentally coming across the woman’s farm, becomes a story that follows Tom through his unrealized quest for love and acceptance. With the help of Ms. Crater and Lucynell, Tom learns that his choices have consequences. In “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, O’Connor creates a world in

As the rich became richer and the poor became poorer, it was realized by the laborers of the railroad that their nation's economic growth and prosperity was not being equally shared among the people. Coupled with years of wage cuts (35% over 3 years), and workforce reductions, that then required remaining workers to work 15-18 hour days, the workers fought back.

The economic freedoms greatly benefited the ascendant nouveau riche –the new class of factory owners, engineers, and bankers. Monopolies increased the personal wealth of the industrialists and the free-market policies of the time helped encourage the competition for better products. However, the radically changing social and economic dynamics would also have negative consequences. The lack of legal restraints on the rampant growth of the massive industrial powerhouses allowed for the wholesale abuse of workers. Long hours, low wages, and poor working conditions were as intrinsic to the industrialization period as the new influx of wealth. Business owners prospered at the expense of their workers and the absence of government support only worsened the situation for many workers. “North and South” accurately portrays the situation: workers died due to the lack of proper ventilation in the factories, children were deprived of education –instead being forced to work– and labour unions and workers strikes were treated with hostility by mill

The workforce constituted mainly of immigrants. Well-connected railway networks allowed the United Mine workers of America to bring immigrants to Colorado. It surely proved to be cost-effective for the company. The migrant workers were paid too poorly for them to be able to sustain their families. Miners were forced to work 10-12 hours a day. “Mine work seemed to turn boys into drones, women into men, and manly laborers into an inferior class of beings.”The company employed women and children in arduous working conditions with inadequate pay, compromising their health and well being. This in turn reduced the wages of the miners as they became easily replaceable.

In the film, Matewan, director John Sayles paints a 1920’s picture of a small, West Virginia coal-mining town. Over the course of the film, this seemingly American Township reveals itself as the site of feudal hardship for its citizens. The Stone Mountain Coal Company was the sole employer in Matewan. The company’s laborers struggled for autonomy and for freedom from the company’s grasp. The ideal method for this achieving such autonomy was organization of a union. This idea of union struck a cord with the company, and the conflict between employer and employee soon escalated into a battle. The laborers began to realize, in certain terms, that the Stone Mountain Coal Company is not simply a corporation but a

The workers are under so much pressure and are expected to work and give so much that they don’t even want to skip a day of work because they don’t want to be seen “slacking” and be behind and earn nothing, as Lyddie once thought, because she used to fear going out sick and falling behind in her production and having her pay drop (stated on page 100). They are given breaks that are not nearly as long as they should be, and they are so void of energy that they can’t do things that are actually enjoyable for them (such as Lyddie not reading her book). The factories are too worried about getting more work done and profiting that they don’t pay attention to the workers’ needs. Plus, for the amount of time that they work and how much stuff they get done, they don’t get paid nearly as much as they

Eventually, the workers of American Coal, who were once the landowners of the very area they were mining, formed a labor union to fight for better working conditions. The union was met with great opposition by the company’s secret police. As time went on, the coal miners continued to fight for their rights, only to be put down violently by the coal company’s strikebreakers. Union leaders were also fired and blacklisted from the company as a means to put a stop to union activity.

these sources is to tell readers of the difficult situations that miners had to face during that time where they

There were a lot of issues that prompted employees at the Frontier hotel to take striking as an action to be heard. When watching this documentary for the first time I didn’t realize how long these workers were on strike for. One word to describe the owners of these hotels is “savages”. They started to fire individuals for no apparent reason it seemed the owners wanted to cut back. There was one girl that worked in the culinary department for eight years and she was let go. The hotel also took away health insurance benefits, pension contributions for employees trying to retire and the most important cutting employee wages for the hotel to save money and for the owners to profit even more letting these employees work next to nothing. A lot of workers said they felt their pride was being taken away also trying to take care of their own family will be even more inflexible. The hotel took away everything so these employees had no chose but to strike.

That being said, the worker's problems did not end once they found steady employment. Employers were harsh and unforgiving in how they treated their employees. For example, if an employee was one minute late they were penalized an hours pay. If they were 20 minutes late they forfeited their employment. Worse yet, if they were injured or hurt on the job the company takes no responsibility and the worker is forced to recuperate on their own time without pay

Activism, culture and value have always had a tremendous influence in society. When it comes to the Appalachian region of the United States, people tend to see our culture and values differently. The individuals of the Appalachian region have been stereotyped for far too long, people forget that West Virginia has played a huge role in building this country. Our coal miners have put their lives in danger time and time again, some losing them, for worker’s rights. The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor rebellion in the history of the United States. This was the foundation of the movement for eight hour work days and minimum wages. The novel Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina is a fictionalized tale of the conflict that took place in these coal fields of West Virginia. The novel brings to light the stereotypes, race and religion of the Appalachian people.

in all of these strikes, miners, prospectors, merchants, saloon keepers, and many others would rapidly appear near a strike, and as soon as the metal was exhausted, the population would rapidly plummet or disappear entirely, leaving those people to wander the west in search of the next big strike, to repeat the process again year after year (H&F 236-38).

The film Matewan, written and directed by John Sayles, depicts the small rural townof 1920's Mingo County, West Virginia as a society undergoing complete social unrest, a result of clashing ideals and economic systems. The film is an illustration of how different social systems come to be so intertwined that they cannot be defined independently of one another. Unfortunately for the people of Matewan, the feudalistic economic system imposed on them by the Stone Mountain Coal Company has come to dominate every facet of their existence, including their political system, their cultural identities, and even the environment in which they live. In order to try and take back control of their lives, the

Prior to being barred from working in mines, the Chinese found themselves fearing for their safety. Chinese miners worked together in groups in order to protect one another from violence that resulted from anti-Chinese sentiment. 3 As the Chinese were forced into other means of employment beyond mining, they were seen as threatening an even greater variety of jobs held by others who sought to profit from the mining