Posted by Elyse on July 11, 2000 at 15:05:29:

In Reply to: Bendigo and Tell posted by Dutch on July 10, 2000 at 23:10:33:

I agree with you. Louis puts a lot of those dream-seeker scenarios in the books. It's part of the American psyche, I guess. A dream is such a big deal that people sacrifice to it -- and not just themselves, but other people, too.

In this book, their town was one dream they had, and the livestock was necessary to the success of the town. Louis did make Ruth urge Bendigo to go, which sort of puts the blessing of the womenfolk on the venture for story purposes. Lets Ben off the hook a little.

I think another reason those gray-area situations come up is just because the author needs to take the action somewhere. A case can be made that he should figure out something else besides leaving friends or family in jeopardy, of course, but he can't just describe the men patching their roofs come spring. There's got to be tension and alot of action. (We sure got action on that trip, too.)

We're also provided with some underlying tension wondering if the town is ok all the time he's gone. As Dickens said, referring to his readers: "Make them wait, make them wait, make them wait."

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