|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Buffalo Creek in Logan County, West Virginia has seen its better days. An unnatural flood destroyed the lives of many people on February 26, 1972. It seems strange to say that all of this could have been prevented and the lives of many could have been saved. In the early days, Buffalo Creek was a small quiet town in the hollows of the Appalachian Mountains. Citizens had been there since the beginning and were almost like the founders of the community. They made their own rules; had their own standards. The mountaineer is self-centered in that he is oriented to individual action and personal gratification (87). Members here were not just considered neighbors; they were like family. Erikson states that the family was a community all by itself: it was an industry, a school, a church, and a hospital. It was the only real shelter that one had. With that being said, members of the community were “close-knit.” Back in the beginning, family was all one really had. They had to look out for each other. So, you could say that members of Buffalo Creek were group-centered, but the group was the family. They depended on each other. The family was their focal point for survival. It is almost complete irony that while the members of Buffalo Creek were group-centered and dependent of each other that they were also self-centered and independent at the same time. Erikson reminds us that the people of Appalachia migrated there to avoid external controls, and the style of life they fashioned for themselves in that isolated terrain is one long celebration of individual liberty. (88) So, in respect to the axes of being either self-centered or group-centered or being independent or dependent, the people of Buffalo Creek were more toward the group-centered/dependent side. Even though one would not admit that they were in desperate need of help. The people realized how much they really needed each other to survive. When the coal camps came in, it brought the men and women of the community in touch with reality. People were happy with their ways of life, even if they were dirt-poor, illiterate, had poor hygiene, and lived in a general hardship. But, they were happy with what they had and didn’t want to change that. They had clean air, fresh water, and order in their lives, what more did they need? When the camps moved in, they brought with bad odors and dirty air. People were not accustomed to this way of life and were not willing to change that, but the coal companies had so much power that they overran everything in the community. They bought out all the industries and made their own money. Life in a mining community was something that the people of Buffalo Creek had to adapt to. The conditions of the camps were almost unbearable. People were now living very close together. Everything just turned into a mess. On a brighter note, new forms of fellowship developed between the miners and their families. Erikson describes life in the hollows as “clannish.” People in the camps were now wedged together and they got to know each other very well.
Approximate Word count = 2110
Approximate Pages = 8.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|