Literature Analysis #4 Fiction Montana 1948

   

     Montana 1948 is a story told by the memories of David. When he is telling the story he goes back to the moment and tells the story as if it were happening. The story takes place in Mercer County, Montana. Where he lives with his Dad Wesley and his mother. Frank is the sheriff of the small town where they live and his mother Gail, which works at the court house across from there house. The story starts when David remembers his childhood and how the house keeper one day got really sick and died. She first got really sick and because she was an Indian she would not allow them to take her to the hospital. David always cared for her on her last days til she passed. Since the day that she died everything change, soon after Wesley's brother got accused of a crime and because he was the sheriff he had to decide how he was going to punish his own brother. For Wesley this decision was really hard because he had to arrest his own brother, he decided to go and tell his parents first so they would not be alarmed when he was to arrest his brother, because his brother was the favorite of the family. Gail wanted Wesley to arrest his brother and give him the punishment that he deserved but, Wesley didn’t want to because that was his brother… Wesley's mother couldn’t look at the situation the same and she died. Wesley decided to arrest his brother and after that he could not take it the same way and decided to resign. Everything change in the family, Wesley never spoke to his dad again and Gail never loved Wesley the same. At the end Wesley then suffers from a heart attack.

     I believe the author wanted to show how people that protect us like Sheriff Wesley make tough decisions that they have to live with for the rest of their lives. In the case of Wesley he had to arrest his own brother, because he did his duty as an officer and sacrificed his reputation with his wife and family for justice. From this book I learned that no matter what justices needs to be served and it’s better to lose everything you have, but at least  know that you did what you needed to do.