Charlotte O’Halloran
October 12, 2014
Rhetoric- Great Divide RD
Killer Optimism The Great Depression greatly affected most Americans leaving many jobless and desperate. Wyoming suffered less than other states. However, crop prices still dropped, banks failed, and mines were shut down; all of which the main character, Hi Alcorn experiences first hand as he struggles to raise a family in Wyoming during the Great Depression in “The Great Divide” by Annie Proulx. This short story follows the lives of Hi and his wife, Helen who are a young couple that have decided to buy land and build a house in Wyoming during The Great Depression with hopes to raise a large family and live the American dream. The “$600 and a cow” passage in this story describes Hi and Helen Alcorn buying their new land where Hi builds a spring house. The description of the weather in this passage has dramatic significance to the rest of the story as the imagery foreshadows important events that occur later. Thematically, Annie Proulx uses the conflicting tones between the author and Hi to expose Hi’s immense optimism and naïve mindset. His optimism is shown immediately when Hi buys land in an area in which he does not qualify due to his little money and livestock. Optimism is a powerful state of existence that can lead an individual to success when others may doubt them. Hi Alcorn is the epitome of an optimist, but it is his immature positive mindset that derails him from success and toward failure time and time again throughout the story. The “$600 and a cow” passage near the beginning of the story describes the main character, Hi and his tendency to fail, but not give up on his dream of owning his own land and raising a family, while foreshadowing the failures and obstacles he will face in the future through the imagery of weather. Hi’s optimism, which is revealed in “$600 and a cow”, is vital to the story. The decisions that are made due to that optimism shape Hi and Helen’s life in the future.
Hi Alcorn’s over confidence is visible in “$600 and a cow” through the conflicting tones between the narrator and Hi. Immediately Hi has a very hopeful tone in his voice as he decides to buy and raise horses when he says “I’ll have them gentled down pretty quick” (Proulx 101). Following this statement from Hi, the narrator makes a note to the reader to confirm and explain the reality of the situation and Hi’s experience with horses. The narrator states, “But he was not good with horses and after a few months he sold them, using the money for a down payment on a tractor.” (Proulx 101) The optimism that is shown through the tone of Hi’s narrative directly relates to the overarching theme that Hi’s optimism leads him and his wife down many roads of hardship. An example of this is when Hi buys a horse thinking he can control horses and make money off them, but ends up having to sell them to buy a tractor, which he ends up selling as well later in the passage. Near the beginning of the passage, the foreshadowing is evident when Hi says, “That’s fine, new land, news spring house, new big house coming, one baby coming.” (Proulx 100) Again, Hi’s exaggerated optimism is evident, but what is more important is the weather imagery in the passage and how these images foreshadow future obstacles Hi and Helen face such as the loss of their land, home, and Hi’s death.
The stylistic significance in this passage is crucial to this short story because it foreshadows what is to come for Hi and Helen. Through the development of the weather imagery, each change directly correlates to a failure Hi experiences. The passage begins with Helen drinking water from the spring they just bought along with land. The water is described as “ice- cold water, pure and sweet” (Proulx 101) because they had just bought this land and it was pure and life was sweet. They were expecting their first child at this time and had just bought land so everything seemed to be going well for them. The first transition is described when the weather changes to a “freezing autumn wind” (Proulx 101), which foreshadows Hi’s primary failures when they lose their new land and house. The weather now changes to “churning clouds and the sparse flakes whirling down” (Proulx 101), which foreshadows later in the story when Hi must go work for is brother-in-law, catching horses. This job leads to his death in an accident. His wife is now widowed with four children, a bitter and cold ending similar to the cold and chilling snow described in the passage. The stylistic significance in “$600 and a cow” also foreshadows the end of the story when Helen is left with her four children and no husband to support her.
The dramatic significance occurs at the end of the passage when Hi makes a sexual gesture to Helen when he says “Better idea, hustle back to Craig and get warm. We’ll hop right in the bed and get warm” while he “rapidly raised and lowered his eyebrows communicating a coarse intention.” (Proulx 102) Hi suggests a sexual gesture and they end up having four children together. Hi has so many hopes and goals, but they all end up failing in the end due to his over confidence and faith that things will work out. Having four children may not sound significant, but during this time it was hard to support a family, especially for Hi. It becomes even more tragic at the end when Helen must support the children both in the house cooking and also making money to support and feed them. Helen’s widowed state relates back to the theme of Hi’s great optimism and the trouble it gets him into and the failures that follow.
The “$600 and a cow” passage is vital to the rest of the story because it lays a foundation of what is to come and gives an explanation of why Hi has so much trouble in his life. The foreshadowing in the weather imagery represents the changes Hi and Helen go through with each failure, which are all due to Hi’s over confidence in himself and those around him.