Montana 1948 Character Analysis

In criminal cases, it appears that there is a lot to consider. There are suspects to determine, people to interview, actions to be taken, motives for a crime, and so on. But emotion and attachment to family never seems to fall into this category. In Montana 1948, this variable comes into play. Wes and Frank Hayden are brothers. Franks is a doctor who doesn’t know that he can be apprehended for his mistakes and Wes is the county sheriff. When it is revealed that Frank raped young Indian girls, Wes finds himself stuck in a crossroad – to either arrest his brother and tear his family away from him, or to not arrest Frank and allow him to continue molesting girls. Wes knew that the right thing to do was to arrest Frank, yet was indecisive because

Wes knows that if he goes with what he and his family knows is right, then the Hayden name will be injured, and he knows that this will tear the Hayden family apart. Wes knew the whole time that Frank was probably guilty and that he should be arrested, but didn’t want to hurt the family. The book states, “‘I don’t want this getting back to my father.’… And my father knew he was guilty” (42-43). Wes wants to keep his father from knowing about this until Wes could totally conclude that Frank was guilty as a rapist. Wes needed total proof before he could assuredly apprehend a man: “My father believed in proof, in evidence, and he held off on his own convictions until he had sufficient evidence to support them” (42). Taking together that Wes believed in confirmation, that he wanted to not let this information get to his father, and that Wes knew that Frank was guilty, one can conclude that Wes doesn’t want to tear the Hayden family in two. Wes tries very hard to keep Frank’s awful wrongdoings under wraps for as long as he could, even when Grandpa demanded to know what Frank had done. The book reads, “[Grandpa] said, ‘What? What are you saying? Goddamn, speak up!’ … ‘Murder!’ my father shouted” (113). Wes desperately wanted to keep everyone together and everything calm and

Wes did not want Frank to be arrested: Wes locked Frank in the basement instead of running him in into the prison across the street. This was not only for Frank, but also for Grandpa. Having Frank locked up in the basement saved Frank from humiliating and ruining himself: Wes says, “‘But he’d like to keep this quiet. He didn’t want to be locked up in jail. I said I’d respect that,’” (103). Wes truly cares for his brother, his emotions, and his desires. But not arresting Frank saved Grandpa of nearly the same thing. Wes saved Grandpa the pain of having his work of building up the Hayden name toppled and his favorite son behind bars – Wes tried to save Grandpa’s pride, just as he tried to save Frank’s. Grandpa retorts, “‘You–investigating?’ In those two words I heard how little respect my grandfather had for my father and anything he did…. ‘But I thought you’d have the good sense not to do anything. Now you pull a fucking stunt like this. I should’ve taken you aside and got you straightened out’” (111-112). Wes tries to save the pride that Grandpa has left – his pride of Frank, of his existing