Loss of Innocence MONTANA 1948

AT WHAT POINT DID DAVID REALIZE HIS CHILDLIKE VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE WAS NOT TRUE? When he hears his mother explain to Wes what Frank had done to American Indian women.

“…and perhaps I would have lived out my life with an illusion about my family and perhaps even the human community.”

IN WHAT WAYS WAS HE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS? He eaves dropped on his parents’ conversation and they had no idea he was listening:

“From there I was able to crouch down and double back to the side of the porch, staying below the screen and out of my parents’ line of vision.”

DAVID’S REALISATION WAS ESPECIALLY HARSH FOR HIM BECAUSE: The crimes were committed by his uncle/father’s only brother. The victim was the woman he loved.

“Who murdered my beloved Marie.”

IT WAS ALSO VERY HARD FOR HIM BECAUSE… He had no–one to talk to through the problems: Marie Little Soldier was dead. His mother was focused on protecting him from the harshness, not wanting him to be exposed any more than he was. “My mother was concerned about my values… She saw the problem as centred on my mortal being.” His father was focused on the investigation. “The next day my father began investigating the accusation Marie had made against his brother.” He could not talk with his friends because he would have felt the weight of the Hayden family reputation to uphold. This may be why his horse Nutty meant so much to him.

At some point his parents should have included him and realized his involvement. HOWEVER…

David tells them he saw Frank’s car at the house, the day Marie Little Soldier died. Frank is put in the basement of David’s home. At that time…children were not confided in. They were told very little, if anything at all. WHEN?

TO BE FAIR… Wes did try. When it was decided Frank would be released. Wes stares at David, as if wanting a response. David backs away.

“What did he want from me? Didn’t he know – I was a child and ineligible to vote?” “…So it was easy to outwait my father.”

LARGELY… David had to make sense of it on his own.

BUT… How did he do this?

In trying to deal with inner conflict, David realizes that even good people are capable of doing bad things. In this way he is possibly empathising with Frank. He even realizes that he too, can enjoy and even need to kill things as a way of working out problems.

“I realized that these strange, unthought-of connections – sex and death, lust and violence, desire and degradation – are there, there in even a good heart’s chambers.”