Better a Dinner of Herbs, Byron Herbert Reece

The last I read the book told the story of everyone in the household the morning the preacher died. It described the event through the eyes of a man Danny calls "The idiot" because I think he is mentally challenged. A man named Uncle Edin who acts as Danny's father in the book, The Preacher, ofcourse, Mary, who is The Preacher's wife, and Jason who is the Preacher's son.
The chapter about Jason was the one that intrigued me most, because it talked about The Preacher giving Jason corporal punishment. The book made it seem that The Preacher chastised his son for little or no reason, which makes me wonder what kind of man this preacher was. When I think of a preacher I think of a man who is laid back and very peaceful, and instead of punishing a child he educates them. In the book though the setting is much different, they are in north Georgia around 1930s I think and it is very rural. So, the people back then might have been alot different than what I'm used to. I'm hoping that I will get a better picture of what life was like back then as a read more into the book.