PLot summary
The book, Montana 1948 by Larry Watson, is written from the perspective of a man, David, reminiscing his childhood.
David Hayden, the main character of the novel, re tells the events which happened in the summer of 1948 that changed his family lives forever and reshaped his moral values and beliefs.
Montana, a large state in northern part of United States, is a home to many tribes of Native Americans who are forced to live in reservations, areas allocated to them by local government. David’s father, Wesley, is the sheriff of Bentrock, one of many towns established in this area by white Americans. Wesley is an educated man who was set to be a lawyer and his main desire in life was to run his own law practice. However, when Julian, David’s grandpa, retired as being the sheriff of Mercer County he overpowered Wes’s decision to move to a bigger town and set up his own life there as a successful lawyer and instead elected him to have his job as the sheriff of Mercer County.
Think: Was Wes afraid to go against his father wishes or just obedient and respectful of him to take the badge and role his father offered him?
Frank Hayden, David’s uncle and Wes’s older brother, was a beloved son of Julian. Some could say that he was in fact the favourite son of the family. Frank is also a well educated man and works as a doctor serving white and native members of the community. However as the story unfolds it becomes clear that Frank misused his powerful position and had been physically assaulting and sexually abusing Indian women in town. Later in the novel Wes makes a difficult decision and takes action against Frank’s crimes. Wes had an unusual way of dealing with accusations, by meeting with locals, getting their perspective and making sure that the community shares his suspicions. Only then, knowing that he had a public support behind him he would proceed and make an arrest. Wes takes a complete opposite approach when dealing with Frank’s case. He secretly gathers information about the crimes and once having enough evidence arrests Frank in the basement of his own house instead of making the crime public and getting other powerful people including his own father involved in the case. He is handling the case himself behind closed doors.
Think: Why do you think he does this? Is it because he does not want his brother to go to prison? Is it because he wants to keep Julian happy by not getting the public involved? Or both?
Wesley’s main motive for locking Frank up in the basement is to not get his brother in too much trouble and to not put his family name to shame. By doing this I believe he will be trying to stay on his father’s good side as he is not getting the high court involved instead just keeping it quite.
After Frank’s lock up, Julian makes many attempts to try and free him. He confronts Wesley and demands release of Frank. As Wes refuses to do that his father tries to threaten his family. This forces Len, David, Wes and Gail to protect
themselves and to guard their house. One morning as Wes finally decides to expose Frank’s crimes and take him to court he finds his brother dead in the basement. Frank committed suicide.
Think: Was suicide the right choice for Frank? Or should he just own up to his mistakes and face the court room like a man?
The novel ends with David, Gail and Wesley moving away from Bentrock and Wesley getting a job as an attorney. That meant for him breaking away from his father and for David leaving memories of his childhood and very tragic events of the summer of 1948 behind.
David Hayden, the main character of the novel, re tells the events which happened in the summer of 1948 that changed his family lives forever and reshaped his moral values and beliefs.
Montana, a large state in northern part of United States, is a home to many tribes of Native Americans who are forced to live in reservations, areas allocated to them by local government. David’s father, Wesley, is the sheriff of Bentrock, one of many towns established in this area by white Americans. Wesley is an educated man who was set to be a lawyer and his main desire in life was to run his own law practice. However, when Julian, David’s grandpa, retired as being the sheriff of Mercer County he overpowered Wes’s decision to move to a bigger town and set up his own life there as a successful lawyer and instead elected him to have his job as the sheriff of Mercer County.
Think: Was Wes afraid to go against his father wishes or just obedient and respectful of him to take the badge and role his father offered him?
Frank Hayden, David’s uncle and Wes’s older brother, was a beloved son of Julian. Some could say that he was in fact the favourite son of the family. Frank is also a well educated man and works as a doctor serving white and native members of the community. However as the story unfolds it becomes clear that Frank misused his powerful position and had been physically assaulting and sexually abusing Indian women in town. Later in the novel Wes makes a difficult decision and takes action against Frank’s crimes. Wes had an unusual way of dealing with accusations, by meeting with locals, getting their perspective and making sure that the community shares his suspicions. Only then, knowing that he had a public support behind him he would proceed and make an arrest. Wes takes a complete opposite approach when dealing with Frank’s case. He secretly gathers information about the crimes and once having enough evidence arrests Frank in the basement of his own house instead of making the crime public and getting other powerful people including his own father involved in the case. He is handling the case himself behind closed doors.
Think: Why do you think he does this? Is it because he does not want his brother to go to prison? Is it because he wants to keep Julian happy by not getting the public involved? Or both?
Wesley’s main motive for locking Frank up in the basement is to not get his brother in too much trouble and to not put his family name to shame. By doing this I believe he will be trying to stay on his father’s good side as he is not getting the high court involved instead just keeping it quite.
After Frank’s lock up, Julian makes many attempts to try and free him. He confronts Wesley and demands release of Frank. As Wes refuses to do that his father tries to threaten his family. This forces Len, David, Wes and Gail to protect
themselves and to guard their house. One morning as Wes finally decides to expose Frank’s crimes and take him to court he finds his brother dead in the basement. Frank committed suicide.
Think: Was suicide the right choice for Frank? Or should he just own up to his mistakes and face the court room like a man?
The novel ends with David, Gail and Wesley moving away from Bentrock and Wesley getting a job as an attorney. That meant for him breaking away from his father and for David leaving memories of his childhood and very tragic events of the summer of 1948 behind.