Loss Of Innocence And Adulthood In Montana 1948 By Larry Watson

Montana 1948 - Larry Watson Steph Pinker

There are a few good ideas about David's loss of innocence and adulthood that are worth learning about in the novel ‘Montana 1948’by Larry Watson. The three main ideas the stuck out for me are David’s sexual shame, growing up mentally and the choices and decisions. These stuck out to me as the three main worthy ideas because they all hold a significant part of the story , and as a teenager reading the book I can feel i understand some of them as they relate to the universal experience of growing up.

The first idea that is worth learning about is David’s sexual shame. This comes when he learns of what things his Uncle Frank had done to the women of Bedrock county, especially the Indians. David starts to see every other women differently, “has Uncle Frank done anything to her?” This also comes when he thinks back to the time of when he saw Marie Little Soldier naked in the bathroom shower. “And I loved her. Because she talked to me… Because she was sexy…” He is ashamed of the sexual thoughts he had had of the women. Also the thought of his beautiful aunty. He begins to think of sex as a

When David makes the decision to stay and listen in on his parent's mysterious adult conversation, he knows he shouldn’t but being a young adventurous boy, oblivious of the cruel and unforgiving grown world, he stays back and listens to his parents reveal a side of the dark adult world David had not yet known about. “...a part of me said leave, get away, run, now before it's too late. Before everything changes. But I pressed myself closer to the house and hung on.” This idea of a curious child that just wants a little taste of the mysterious and yet unknown adult life relates to the universal idea of growing up. The stage in life of total innocence yet curiosity and mysteriousness is something everyone goes through growing