Montana 1948

“The harshness of the land and the flattening effect of wind and endless sky probably accounted for the relative tranquility of Mercer County. Life was simply too hard, and so much of your attention and energy went into keeping not only yourself but also your family, your crops, and your cattle alive, that nothing was left over for raising hell or making trouble.” 

This is David’s interpretation of life in rural Montana. It explains for him why his father, the Sheriff does not deal with the stereotypical problems of the rural West, such as wild cowboys and drunken Native Americans and so on. David’s father doesn’t even carry a gun on the job.

“Why did my grandfather first run for sheriff? ... He wanted, he needed power. He was a dominating man who drew sustenance and strength from controlling others. To him being the law’s agent probably seemed a natural progression—first you master the land and its beasts, then you regulate the behavior of men and women.”

This is a summary of Julian Hayden’s character and foreshadows the family conflict in the novel. When David’s father goes against his own father’s wishes, the elder Hayden reacts. He will even resort to violence against his family when challenged.

“The problem was that I wanted to grow up wild. . . . Wildness meant, to me, getting out of town and into the country. Even our small town—really, in 1948, still a frontier town in many respects—tasted to me like pabulum. It stood for social order, good manners, the chimed schedules of school and church. It was a world meant for storekeepers, teachers, ministers, for the rule-makers, the order-givers, the law-enforcers. And in my case, my parents were not only figurative agents of the law, my father was the law.”

This is the not surprising point of view of a twelve-year-old boy on the verge of adolescence and increasingly aware of how his parents controlled his childhood. David wants to be independent, free, and able to make his own choices. He is able to do that when he is outside the town fishing or shooting or horseback riding.