This journey is to claim a three hundred dollar savings account and an old yellow pickup truck that Victor Joseph, one of the young men’s fathers left behind when he died. Victor travels with another young Indian called Thomas Builds-A-Fire. Victor had grown up to hate his father along with everything else in the world. And this trip would open his eyes and allow him to realize there was a lot he was blind to. In this documented essay I’m writing, I’m going to discuss the best critical discussion of three sources I found.
Sherman Alexie created a story of recollection and reparation when he wrote “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.” The story tells of a man named Victor who loses his job and then finds out his father died of a heart attack in Phoenix. He must come up with a way to get down to Arizona despite the lack of money or transportation. After being turned away with a mere hundred dollars from the Tribal Council, he ends up with an unlikely ally in the town outcast, a man named Thomas Builds-the-Fire. The two had grown up together, and were once friends, but have since become estranged. When Thomas offers to lend Victor the money for the trip he insists Victor must take him along.
For 14-year old Walter, his great uncles’ farm in rural Texas is the last place on earth he wants to spend the summer. Dumped off by his mother, Mae, in the middle of nowhere with two crazy old men and the promise that she’ll come back for him, Walter doesn’t know what to believe in. Eccentric and gruff, Hub and Garth McCaan are rumored to have been bank robbers, mafia hit men and/or war criminals in their younger days. The truth is elusive, although they do seem to have an endless supply of cash. But Walter begins to see a new side to his great uncles when he stumbles on an old photograph of a beautiful woman hidden away in a trunk and asks Garth who she is.
He is a victim of favoritism, and because of never being the one with the attention he has learned not to be like his bad father and his brother by teaching himself what is right in others eyes, not the eyes of his dad. At the opening of the story, Wes is described as a “boring” sheriff of a small town in Montana. Wes had attended law school but forcefully had to take over his father’s position of county sheriff. It was evident that this was not an ideal position for him. Because of his position rather than his brother’s, he experiences jealousy and is a victim of favoritism.
In June 1855 after the death of his father Ned was forced to leave school to help assist his grandfather James Quinn with the family cattle in North Victoria. He also got a job and became the family’s main breadwinner and started taking jobs as a timber cutter and rural worker to try and provide for his mother and younger siblings. Ned’s family was very poor and only had a small plot of land. The soil was bad quality which caused Ned to steal horses and cattle to survive. However despite this he educated himself and was known for his good use of language and sense of humor.
In Montana 1948, Wesley Hayden has to make one of the toughest decisions of his life, do the right thing and arrest his brother, or let his brother off because they are family. In Wesley’s eyes, he felt that it would be better to stand up for justice instead of back up his family. As a result of standing up for justice, Wes paid a hard price. He was never his father’s favorite son, but when Wes arrests Frank (the perfect son), it doesn’t sit too well with Grandpa Hayden. Julian Hayden practically eliminates Wes from his family.
Will Kane must decide if he is to leave town and the town he loves or stay and defend the town. During the entire movie, you can see how Will Kane is loyal to the town and how the town betrays him. The movie tells a story about a man who was too proud to run and who was left abandoned by the townspeople he swore would protect him because of a four-man gang led by Frank Miller. Will Kane is told that a man he sent to prison years before, Frank Miller is returning on the noon train to seek his revenge. Will Kane chose to stay and protect the town against everyone else’s will.
The very same type of ending was seen when Holden recalled the movie he watched about the Englishman who had lost his memory and his response to it. He describes the movie as, “don’t see it if you don’t want to puke all over yourself” (138). His response to the movie most likely would have been because of how Holden had believed that Allie was somehow going to get through a terrible situation, which was clearly explained in the movie that Holden watched, but since Allie did
Comparing my religion to a fairy-tale is like insulting my race or intelligence; I am obviously not going to take it very well. I found certain thing about his “documentary” offensive. First of all I do not dislike Bill Maher, so it is only fair that I could have an opinion about his movie. I enjoyed his documentary like movie in which he was set out to question people about their religion. That being said anyone who is religious would feel uncomfortable while watching “Religulous”.
Yasamin Roozbeh English 081 May 21, 2012 Wesley Hayden In the novel Montana 1948, Larry Watson tells the story of the struggles of a family torn between loyalty and justice. The identity of Wesley Hayden is explored and the different points of views of his brother, Frank’s sexual assault case add a new perception to the story. Wesley grows as a person because of the circumstances and misfortune he undergoes throughout the novel. Watson portrays Wesley to be a weak and brittle man, making him seem as though he cannot defeat anyone or anything that comes his way. Wesley lives under the shadow of his brother Frank and as the story progresses he is slowly escaping it.