Jayden Wang’s Reviews > Montana 1948 > Status Update

Wesley had made a correct choice, or even the most optimal in his situation, with pressure all around him, like his dad. He still held his sense of Integrity and kept Frank in the basement. After knowing that Frank had committed suicide in the basement of Wesley's house, I could see how much the Hayden family cares about their fame and morale; Frank would even die rather than have a bad reputation and go to jail.

During Julian Hayden's visit to Wes's house, I observed the prejudice he harbored against his elder son and the greater affection he showed for Frank compared to Wes. For example, after the talk, Julian sent his employees to try to rob Frank. Also, from the words Julian expressed, Gloria clearly did not know everything that Frank had done. I'm curious about the reaction Glo would have after knowing the whole thing.

Page 105, the author indicates a lot about the paint using Wesley's words. As he says, paint means that living occurs in certain houses; if the paint is new and shiny, it is easy for people to know there's a residence. But I notice that before getting new things on there, we must scrape the old ones, which usually means neglect and decay, but painting new means that there is change happening, which connects to Wes.

I was not surprised to see that Frank had gone into the house before Marie died, and even got 'caught' by Len, and I was starting to understand why we always say that Len is going to be important to the story. During the two chapters, I saw David begin to grow, mentally, from a boy to a man. We saw him changing; it all started with the talk of mom and dad about the action Frank had done, which changed David's world.

Wes started to investigate Frank's molesting case. He had made his choice between family and justice. Also, I think about that in the whole story, the Hayden brothers are totally different people, with different characters, behavior, experience, and the 'thing' that they are representing behind. It reminded me that even in our world today, we could still see a person's character and behavior through specific actions.

When we finally discovered that Frank was molesting Indian girls, it reminded me that in our world today, many people seem kind on the surface, but they also commit terrible acts behind the scenes. After the mother told the father about Frank’s actions, it was a tough decision for the dad, who is a sheriff: whether to be loyal to his family and do nothing about Frank or to do his sheriff’s duty. It is a hard choice.

Even when Marie got very sick, she refused to see a doctor, especially Frank Hayden, who is a very famous person in town. It made me confused. Why would Marie refuse to have doctor Hayden, who is free and familiar to them, but even want to find other doctors than Frank? I think that Frank might have done something terrible under his coverage as a great citizen, and Marie knew the truth behind it, so she resisted.

I can feel the ‘change’ that the narrator's mother wanted to express, for example, providing his husband support to be himself, not only the son of Julian Hayden. It evoked a sense of the Hayden family's heritage as the town's sheriff, which somehow seems mandatory. Both parents have different mindsets: the father represents inheritance and power, and the mother represents the ‘true self’.