Montana Study Guide Part II

Study Guide, Part II
Montana, 1948, chapter two, pages 57102
1. As the second chapter begins, we see David Hayden begin to reconstruct
his father's investigation. We are reminded that, in large measure, the story of
what happened that summer in Montana is hearsay and deduction. How
accurate do you suppose are David's conclusions? Do the three deductions
presented on the following pages give us confidence in his ability to ferret out
the truth? Why or why not?
2. Ollie Young Bear
His role in the story is slight. In fact, he virtuallydisappears after this one scene. Why is he in the story? What is thesignificance of the fact that he has a white wife?
3. What's important about the scene in the bowling alley on page 59? What
does it show about David, about his father?
4. What's the significance of the weather in the scene on page 63, when
David and his mother are temporarily banished from the house?
5. On page 65, David's mother delivers a short soliloquy on the geography of
Montana, and the geography of her youth. David interprets this as her way of
saying "she wanted a few moments of purity." He also ads that he is "on the trail
of something that [will] lead him out of childhood." Explain.
6. On page 67, en route to the ranch, David's father makes a tentative
suggestion that the family take a trip to Yellowstone, a national park in
Montana and Wyoming. Is this destination arbitrary? And what do you make
of David's observation that "unfortunately, he did not often keep his promises."
7. On page 69, we get to see David's grandfather for the first time. What sort
of figure is he? Does he resemble anyone else in the story, or anyone else
you have seen in the literature and film of the West?
8. On the same subject, what do you make of the Hayden's house on page
68? What does it say about its occupants?
9. On page 71, the subject of Frank's and Gloria's childlessness comes up
just when David, who is eavesdropping, expects his father to tell Grandpa
Hayden about Frank's improper sexual relationships with Indian girls. What do
you make of this juxtaposition? Why do you think David's father is bringing up
the subject now?
10. On the same page, David thinks: "Tell Grandfather. Tell him, and he'll take
care of everything. He'll grab Uncle Frank by the shoulders and shake him so
hard his bones will clatter like castanets. He'll shake him up and shout in
Frank's face that he'd better straighten up and fly right or there'll be hell to
pay. And because it's grandfather, that will be the end of it." What does this
deep faith in his grandfather show about David? And what do you make of the
violence of this vision? Why his grandfather, and not his father?
11. David's grandfather, on the next page, lets slip that his son Frank has
"always been partial to red meat." He is speaking about Indian women, of
course, but the metaphor he chooses is telling. What does it show about him?
How does he seem to feel about his son's improprieties?
12. The novel then moves to flashback, returning us to a distant memory of
Frank's bachelor party. Again., David relays an overheard conversation. Look
to page 75here, his father delivers a drunken speech about the "Hayden
boys," describing them as a kind of fraternity of lawlessness and macho
bravado. "We are the law!" he says. Then he vomits. Explain the connection
between this scene and the statement on page 21 that David's father is a man
"who tried to turn two ways at once" (21).

13. On page 76 we meet David's grandmother. How is she different from the
other women in the novel, especially David's own mother? What is this meant
to show?
14. On page 77, David confesses his erotic attraction for his Aunt Gloria, and
describes a scene when, bedridden, she tended to him. He even pretends to
be asleep, in order that he may enjoy her closeness to him: "as she bent
down to feel my forehead," David confesses, "I could smell her perfume."
Does this arrangement and erotic attraction in the midst of medical care
remind you of anything else in the novel?
15. Subsequently, David overhears a whispered conversation between his
aunt and his uncle, then the squeaking of their bedsprings. What's going on
here? Does this scene change, if briefly, or sense of Uncle Frank the Indian
molester?
16. On page 7980,
David is given an automatic pistol by his grandfather and told to go shoot coyotes. David says of handguns: "They were something not serious, not for bringing down game but for shooting as an activity in and of itself...." How is this gun different from the guns David's father has given him and trained him to use? Is it significant that it comes from his grandfather?
Does it have a symbolic meaning?
17. What is the double meaning of the two paragraphs on page 80 that begin:
"I shot up the entire box of bullets." (Consider that in the scene immediately
preceding, David has experienced powerful erotic sensations at his aunt's
perfume and disgust as well.)
18. Of the magpie that he shoots, David says on page 81, "I hadn't even
known it but I needed to kill something." What is he struggling with? Why must
his anger manifest itself in violence?
19. Continue your interpretation on page 82, with the paragraph that begins "I
felt the way I did when I woke from an especially disturbing and powerful
dream....." Pay particular attention to the lines: "I realized that these strange,
unthought of connections: sex and death, lust and violence, desire and
degradation are there, there, deep in even a good heart's chambers."
20. One last point to consider. A heart has chambers, as David says. So does
a gun. What's the symbolic connection?
21. On page 82, David sees his father and uncle talking. What's the first
strange thing he notices? What is the significance of this?
22. Why does David pantomime shooting his uncle? What would his motive
be for murder?
23. As the scene closes on page 84, David notes that "My father and Uncle
Frank walked off together, their broad shoulders almost touching." What are
we meant to think has transpired between them?

24. What's wrong or insufficient about David's father's remarks to his wife on
the return drive (page 85)?
25. What is the significance of Marie's strange remark on page 86? ("He's
hard to see when you look for him.") What's hard to see? What's David been
looking for?
26. On page 87, David says that he "knew, knew immediately what had
happened." What does he know? How does he know it?
27. What's the symbolic significance of the open medical bag on the table on
page 87?
28. On page 88, Uncle Frank suggests a couple of explanations for Marie
Little Soldier's sudden death. David also notes that as he spoke "he stood up
so straight he seemed to be at attention." What's the meaning of this body
language? A soldier is one who stands at attention. Whose orders is he
following?
29. On a related note, speaking of soldiers, what do you make of Marie's last
name?
30. On page 89, Uncle Frank says, "Pneumonia is still a serious disease. Very
serious. We mustn't lose sight of that." What is he asking his audience to do?
And is there a connection an echo between these words and Marie's last
words on page 86?
31. On page 93, Len, who has served as a deputy under both David's father
and grandfather, explains what it means "to be a peace officer in Montana."
What does it mean? Does it mean that still, in this story, in the summer of
1948?
32. Why do you suppose the author, Larry Watson, chose to make Len an
alcoholic? What does this say about the kind of life he has led? Is this a by
product of being "a peace officer in Montana"?
33. David also supposes that Len is, or has been, in love with his mother.
Nothing much comes of this in the novel thematter is simply noted here, then
dropped. Why is it in the story? What does it say about Len, his basic qualities
of character, his loyalties and allegiances?
34. Why do you suppose David chooses not to tell Len what he saw on page
94?
35. After David tells his father what he saw, he notices his father's injured
knee. Go to the paragraph on page 100 that begins "My mother turned on the
lamp beside the bed." What is the connection that David notes between his
father's injured leg and "the pain he felt over his brother"?
36. Closing the chapter, on pages 1012,
David has a dream about all the Indians in Bentrock, on top of Circle Hill. He notes, among other details, thatin his dream, they aren't dressed as they are in the movies, but just as they appear in his daily life. How do you interpret this dream, in particular the way they are dressed? examining it for impurities"?