Bainbridge Colby, who was an American lawyer and politician, once said that “loyalty will not permit envy, hate, and uncharitableness to creep into our public thinking.” In the story Montana 1948 by Larry Watson, it is shown by the actions of Wes Hayden, that hate and the other reasons listed in the quote above, do not have an effect on the decisions Wes makes in the duration of the story. The events that happened throughout the story caused the decisions that were made by Wes, and shape his character. This provides insight into the complex person and character that Wes Hayden is. The complexity of Wes’ character is shown by the events in the story that drive the theme of family/loyalty and how that affects one's relationships with whom they are close with.
Wes Hayden had to deal with a lot of internal conflicts and moral dilemmas in the story. The events that occurred with Wes’ brother and father …show more content…
Even though Wes knew it was the right action to not let Frank go, but he still had some second thoughts about what he should do which shows a side of his personality where he still loves his brother and has a small amount of empathy for him. “I mean, I felt it was a kind of miracle my brother being in the one place in the world I needed him most”(Watson.158). This quote shows how Wes has conflicting feelings about the situation with Frank as he remembers the positives about Frank, and how he used to be a role model for him. For Wes, this caused conflicting feelings as Wes remembered the time when Frank was there for him when Wes was in a time of need and when Frank was in a time of need, but it went against everything Wes believes in to help his brother, so he didn’t. This side to Wes’ personality that was shown by this quote helps to develop the theme of family loyalty because it showed a part of Wes that did want to help frank even though it wasn’t the right thing to
Wes Hayden had to deal with a lot of internal conflicts and moral dilemmas in the story. The events that occurred with Wes’ brother and father …show more content…
Even though Wes knew it was the right action to not let Frank go, but he still had some second thoughts about what he should do which shows a side of his personality where he still loves his brother and has a small amount of empathy for him. “I mean, I felt it was a kind of miracle my brother being in the one place in the world I needed him most”(Watson.158). This quote shows how Wes has conflicting feelings about the situation with Frank as he remembers the positives about Frank, and how he used to be a role model for him. For Wes, this caused conflicting feelings as Wes remembered the time when Frank was there for him when Wes was in a time of need and when Frank was in a time of need, but it went against everything Wes believes in to help his brother, so he didn’t. This side to Wes’ personality that was shown by this quote helps to develop the theme of family loyalty because it showed a part of Wes that did want to help frank even though it wasn’t the right thing to