Hamlin Garland, author of Main-Travelled Roads, was not the typical writer of the late 19th century enchanted by the allure of the Midwest. Having seen his parents, particularly his mother, struggle with life in the Midwest, Garland was thoroughly disenchanted with the lifestyle that so many writers portrayed as one of freedom and prosperity, and through his stories, he instead wrote of the trials and strife suffered by those who lived in the “Middle Border.” Because Garland’s imagery so heavily affects how the reader interprets his work, assessing his text based on how this imagery influences the reader’s reaction is the best method of evaluation. Through the imagery he uses throughout his stories, Garland attempts to show the true life…show more content… He uses imagery to detail how the average life in the Midwest is so full of anguish that there seems to be little to no hope of avoiding the despair this lifestyle invariably causes. Grant from “Up the Coulee” is the very personification of this notion. While his brother, Howard, manages to escape the Midwestern lifestyle, he is forced to stay and endure the poverty. This leads him to feel an amount of bitterness towards Howard, which is evident through the manner in which Garland portrays their relationship. When he finally forgives Howard and the latter attempts to offer money as an apology, Grant replies, “Money can’t give me a chance now” (Garland 192) and, when asked what he means by this, goes on to say, “I mean life ain’t worth very much to me. I’m too old to take a new start. I’m a dead failure. I’ve come to the conclusion that life’s a failure for ninety-nine per cent of us. You can’t help me now. It’s too late” (Garland 192-193). Grant, being so affected by the poverty of the Midwest, began to believe that there could be no other way of life for him than to struggle through his family’s destitution. The resulting impression from the audience is pity for those who suffer this poverty. In fact, when most individuals finished reading the book, Garland’s imagery left them with the view of the people of the Midwest as “that of a class, and not of…show more content… (414)
He goes on to say, “Garland is an impressionist and has always made it a principle to paint life as he saw it” (422). Bowen has nothing but words of praise to say for Main-Travelled Roads and Garland’s other works. There were some, however, that did not see Garland’s work as one that identified Midwestern troubles in a positive light. Those wishing to publicize the favorable aspects of the Midwest and ignore the negative ones were the primary proponents of this view. In their eyes, Main-Travelled Roads conveyed a “message of protest” and went so far as to say that it contained a “note of revolt” (Bowen 421). Garland received still more criticism for his very representation of the Midwest. A number of editors he sent his manuscripts to “protested against what they described as the author’s ‘false interpretation of western life’ and urged him instead to write ‘charming love stories’” (Bowen 418). However, these are simply the reviews of romantics that did not approve of Garland’s realistic narratives. Main-Travelled Roads, though it is viewed poorly by those that wished to promote the Midwest as a land of freedom and opportunity, has never had ties with the rebellion
