David was only 12 years old when he was forced to abandon his childhood ways and begin the process of adulthood. A series of tragic events were portrayed throughout the summer of 1948 which had a permanent and decisive impact on David and his parents. Larry Watson specifically created the persona of a young child, in order to portray the theme of innocence. By using first person point of view, he is able to recall on many significant events in his life through the eyes of a child.
As the story of Montana 1948 starts to unfold, David’s young life and innocence was turned upside down forever, this forced him out of childhood. In the process, his innocence and youthful ways were destroyed but this lead to his hard way of gaining of wisdom from everything that had occurred. David is forced to choose between his loving father and his devoted Uncle Frank. From the start of the novel, as a reader we learn that David leads a happy and stable life with his family. Larry Watson has purposely created David’s parents to protect his innocence as they try to hide Frank’s crimes, however David's habit of eavesdropping has enabled him to hear the worst of his Uncle Frank. David’s view on life dramatically starts to change as he eavesdrops confidential and shocking conversations held between his mother and father, regarding frank’s behavior towards Marie Little Soldier. During this time David learns that the Indians have no power or influence in society. Due to the stability of David’s family, combined with the respect Uncle Frank had with the community of Bentrock, the events which occurred became a destructive and shocking surprise for David. This event portrays a young boy forced to move into the adult world by overhearing what is turning his world upside down. |
David’s loss of innocent was crushed when he found out that his role model, Uncle Frank had raped and molested multiple innocent Indian girls who were in his care, due to him being the only doctor around. It was Frank’s actions which ruined David’s thoughts on daily life situations. David was shocked by this because David was once very close to uncle Frank and in a way, looked up to him.
David discovers the complex world of adulthood after Marie was sexually assaulted, raped, and found dead a few days after Frank visited. After receiving the shock of knowing his uncle is a murder, David experiences growth in morality. He chooses to tell his parents what he knows about Uncle Frank, and what he witnessed. This demonstrates David developing in the area of honesty. Before this, David would have kept everything to himself, rather than facing his parents with information he knows would anger them. David’s first lesson he learnt was the importance of the family name and how it impacts him, even when he doesn't want to use it. As a result of his Father and Grandfather operating as town sheriff, the family name is connected with power and authority. The Hayden’s would have been considered somewhat wealthy during the summer of 1948, this is when David realized that the combination of power and wealth gives him a level of respect from the people of the town; even though he has done nothing personally to earn it. Seeing as though David was exposed to so much at a young age, he quickly matured into a loyal, independent character. David journeys from one state of mind to another, and soon becomes very aware of the existence of evil. |