Analysis of Book Montana 1984 by Larry Watson - Essay Example

Frank has a destructive habit of abusing his professional status of a physician to exploit his female patients. David’s father, Wesley, is singularly shell-shocked after getting familiar with his brother’s reality because he is also the local sheriff. So, he is entrapped in a catch-22 as on one side family loyalty demands of him to let Frank go and on the other side, the obligation to justice demands of him to turn Frank over to the local jail. The entire family attempts to be exceptionally courageous to deal with the tragedy of the conflict encountered by them.

The purpose of this essay is also to highlight the reality of this claim that “all characters in Montana 1984 except Frank Hayden are quite inspirational because they exhibit remarkable bravery in the face of conflict and tragedy.” The novel digs with acute intelligence into the heinous ways by which power is abused by those generally respected in society. It tells the readers how such people depend on maintaining a pretense to feed their evil urges and how them catering to their debaucheries negatively interferes with peace and reputation of the entire family.

It is true that Frank is a habitual molester and ruthless killer, but it is also true that the people connected with him like David and Wesley are innocent and have done nothing to suffer the agonizing pain which they do in the novel. Frank’s mother, Gail, is also introduced to acute distress as it is her actually who first discovers her son’s wicked ways of using his patients as preys. It is the menacing distress which gradually gets so thick and so mercilessly envelops the entire Hayden family that at one point David is even pushed to seriously contemplating the idea of shooting Frank with his pistol to end the source of the enigmatic tragedy once and for all.

The novel suggests that all characters are broken inside and live fragmented lives. They are enforced to deal with misery due to the criminal behavior of someone they used to know. They have lost someone they dearly loved and the idea of someone so well respected in the family and society turning into a coldhearted monster out of nowhere haunts them day and night.