Several women become pregnant out of wedlock, a young man is murdered, and a local shopkeeper is caught stealing. Several things that happen in the town suggest to Huw that life in the Valley is changing quickly. Gwillym tells Huw that he is not angry that he speaks up for what he believes in, but that he must learn the appropriate time and place.
He reads the entire Bible, and then gets in trouble for disagreeing with the local priest on several matters. He spends the next five years as an invalid, and teaches himself to read difficult books to pass the time. On the way home, Huw is seriously injured when he falls during a snowstorm. Once there, Beth upbraids the men for being careless and reckless. Beth and Huw sneak out of the house to go to a union meeting. However, they are eventually lured back by their mother Beth when she discovers that the boys are not taking care of themselves properly. Three of Huw’s brothers end up leaving home to join the strikers. Seeing them in conflict teaches Huw that he must think for himself in every situation. Davey wants to fight for better conditions, but Ivor, who is married, feels he must work to support his family.
The older men in Huw’s family are divided by the strike. When the men who work in the mines try to strike, they are let go and replaced with men who will work for less. His brother Lanto is involved with some of the local drunks and troublemakers, and his brother Davey complains that workers’ wages are regularly being cut. When Huw is still quite young, he is aware of the troubles that plague the mining town. His eldest brother, Ivor, is married to a woman named Bronwen, who Huw has been in love with for years. His mother Beth keeps order in a home that is filled with Huw and his five brothers and three sisters. Huw’s father Gwillym rented his home for 20 years before he was able to purchase it. The main character of How Green Was My Valley is Huw Morgan, a scholarly young man with the intelligence and academic skills to make a life for himself outside of the mine. He conducted research for How Green Was My Valley and its sequels by interviewing mining families in Gilfach Goch, Wales. Though his parents were Welsh, Llewellyn was born in England and lived most of his life in larger metropolitan cities rather than a small industry town. Llewellyn claimed that the novel was based on his personal experiences as a young man, but this was later found to be untrue. Published in 1939, the book tells the story of a working class Welsh family working in a mining town called the Valley. How Green Was My Valley is a realistic historical novel by the English writer Richard Llewellyn.
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