Part One of Montana 1948 has established several internal and external conflicts. Internally, what conflicts are Wes and David facing? Give a line that reveals those conflicts. Catch: When you post a response you must comment on what others before you have said and you may not give the same quote/line that someone previously has posted. (Deadline to post a response to this blog is midnight, Wednesday, Sept 25, 2013. No credit will be given to plagiarized responses.)
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Which one of me are you telling?
Part One of Montana 1948 has established several internal and external conflicts. Internally, what conflicts are Wes and David facing? Give a line that reveals those conflicts. Catch: When you post a response you must comment on what others before you have said and you may not give the same quote/line that someone previously has posted. (Deadline to post a response to this blog is midnight, Wednesday, Sept 25, 2013. No credit will be given to plagiarized responses.)
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The primary inner conflict that Wes faces is the decision to arrest his brother, Frank, for his deplorable actions. This is shown in the chapter through Wes and Gail's interactions and conversations. I found the lines where Gail asks Wes why he never claimed to disbelieve the accusations to be the most telling. "Just one thing, Wes. You never said you didn't believe it. Why is that? Why?"... "But he didn't say a word. He simply picked up his fork and continued to eat Daisy McAuley's rhubarb cake." Wes's reaction to her questions reveals that he believes his brother to be guilty, but is internally grappling with the decision he must make.
I agree that an inner conflict that Wes faces is the decision to arrest his brother. He knows the truth but does not want to tell Gail how hard it will be for him. I believe that an inner conflict that David faces is soaking in all the information he is hearing. For example, David says, "I may not have been entirely convinced of his guilt, but the story my mother told was too lurid, too frightening, for me to continue thinking of my uncle in the way I always had. Charming, affable Uncle Frank was gone for good." David has to keep his thoughts to himself since he was eavesdropping. He does not know what to believe, but he can never look at his uncle the same anymore. David faces a similar inner conflict as his father, Wes. Wes cannot see his brother as a brother but as a criminal. David sees his uncle as a criminal, also.
I agree with Catherine that Wesley's primary inner conflict is how to deal with his brother Frank. He knows he's obligated to act as the law, but he also knows that he doesn't want to lose his brother and the love of his father. I also agree with Brittney that David's conflict is processing all the information he's hearing. I believe that an inner conflict David faces is that he is forced to leave the life of a kid and then must grow up due the current circumstances. David is not supposed to be hearing the conversations he hears, but he's a curious little boy. Through the information David overhears, he is forced to grow up. When David is eavesdropping at his grandfather's ranch he says, "Yes, tell him, I thought. 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." Later on it is revealed that Grandfather had known about what Frank was doing this entire time. David processes all this information and is forever changed. He is no longer a child without cares, but a young man who is forced to deal with these current circumstances.
I disagree with Lealah concerning her last post. It is true that David is forever changed, but I do not believe he is a man. It is true that he has lost the innocence that accompanies childhood, but the true conflict for David resides in the fact that he IS NOT a man, at least not yet. David is very much a child and he must deal with these changes from that perspective. The passage that reads, "... I crept around upstairs, looking for the men who robbed the Bentrock First National Bank," tells me that he is still a child. Everyone has a reason to dislike the house, but who cares! He gets to play in it! Another clue for me is when David says, "I suppose I wanted adult status," which is not something a man would say. That is my opinion of course, but I believe every child wishes to be grown up, but most adults do not wish the burdens of adulthood upon them. I remind myself that the insightful things that I may hear from David are being written by himself as an older man, and the whole point is that he isn't quite a man yet, I haven't seen that change yet. A comical conflict, thought just as weighty, is when David wants his mother to tell him the story. The quote reads, "I wasn't sure which prospect was more unsettling: that she wouldn't tell me anything and would scold me for prying, or that she would tell me everything and I would have to hear that story come from my mother's lips." I think that just about sums up David's internal conflicts at this point in his development. Does he deal with it in the open like an adult, but forced to hear it from his mother? Or does remain a child in status, scolded by his mother? Both questions reveal his middle ground adolescence, but there is definitely some maturity there. In terms Mrs. Palombo would appreciate, I feel like David was forced into his cocoon, but he hasn't quite emerged yet. He's still figuring how to be the butterfly, or if he wants to be one at all.
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