Montana Study Guide part 1

AGENDA:

BELLWORK: Pronouns

Study Guide, Part I
Montana, 1948, prologue (and chapter one, pages 11-54) 

CLOSE READING:
Guiding Questions
1. Before you even begin reading, the novel story announces in its title the importance of its setting. What expectations are established with this title? What do you know about Montana, about 1948, about Montana in 1948? What do you know about novels and stories set in the West?

2. In the prologue, the narrator, David Hayden, explains a few things: how old he was when the story took place, how old he is now, and what has happened since. List this information, and then speculate: why, perhaps, is he telling the story now? What expectations does this establish for the story to come?

3. Also in the prologue, David offers a list of images. What do these images suggest? And what do you make of his insistence, on the following page, that these images, and others like them, be viewed simultaneously, not chronologically?

4. Lastly, David describes himself at the bottom of page 12 as "a witness." What does this word mean? List all its possible meanings.

5. On page 15, David introduces the setting promised in the title. What are the important facts, figures and details of this description? What kind of place is Mercer County?

6. On page 16, he describes that time in his life as "a new, blessedly peaceful era." How so? And how is this related to David's own age? (Why is 12 more peaceful than, say 10, or 15?)

7. On the same subject, what do we already know about Mercer County that tells us to be suspicious of this idyllic description?

8. The following pages are devoted to a description of David's father, in particular his job. In what ways does he defeat our expectations of the typical Western lawman?

9. Along the same lines, a great deal of time is devoted to a description his gun and holster. How does this encapsulate his failure to conform to our image--and David's image-- of a "typical" Western sheriff? How does Dave seem to feel about this?

10. The badge, too, gets some attention, and here David comments on something he later learned about it (page 19). What is the significance of his new, adult understanding of the reason his father never wore a badge?

11. On pages 19-21, we learn that the Hayden family is something of a dynasty in law enforcement. Later, on page 21, David describes his father as a man "who tried to turn two ways at once." Describe this conflict, including in your answer some thoughts on David's reference, in the same paragraph, to his "grandfather's domain."

12. A patriarch is a father figure, one who heads a family. A patriarchy is a society that is ruled by men. If the world of Mercer County is a patriarchy, what values are its principle values? What is the LAW?

13. On page 22, David lays out a second conflict. What is it?

14. Why is it significant that David and his family live "in the middle of town"? (page 23) What does this positioning suggest?

15. Comment intelligently on David's other life--his country life--at his grandfather's ranch. Is he, like his father, a man pulled two ways?

16. What do you make of the story of the toothless Indian woman on page 25? What does it show about Bentrock, and the general attitude of whites toward Indians? And how does this foreshadow the accusations later made against David's uncle?

17. On the following pages, 25 to 29, David descibes Marie Little Soldier and his feelings for her. Comment on two details: the incident, mentioned on 29, in which he accidentally sees her naked (what else in the story does David see that is naked?); and his remark on page 25 that "her body could be ready, at a moment's notice, for sex or work."

18. Why do you think David mentions his own encounter with chicken pox on page 28? Hint: he's speaking of a childhood disease, suffered as an adult.