Who’s the Bad Guy?
Children are always asking about books and movies, “Is that the bad guy?” And at twenty-six years old, I still am too.
Children are always asking about books and movies, “Is that the bad guy?” And at twenty-six years old, I still am too.
I was reading my first Wallace Stegner book, Crossing to Safety, and I watched each character with a suspicious eye. Was he the villain? Was she? Some characters seemed promising for the role but soon dissolved in the beginning chapters never to be heard of again. Only four characters remained consistent throughout the whole story: Larry and Sally Morgan, and Sid and Charity Lang.
Crossing to Safety is a story set in the 1930s of two married couples in the early days of marriage—the wives bond over shared pregnancies while the husbands work together to make their keep as professors at the local college. But like all of our lives, tragedy finds them. On a vacation with the Langs, Sally nearly dies of polio and loses much of her mobility, requiring time in the iron lung.
Sid took all the children, including the Morgans’, back home with him as he went back to work at the college while Charity Lang sat constantly at Sally’s side working her hands, reading to her, and simply being near her. Charity covered the medical costs and had Sally taken to a well-known physical therapy clinic, where she caught Sally before falling on the treadmills and breathed all her hope into Sally. When Sally was ready to give up, to let disease have its way and fade into the darkness, Charity refused to let her. She fought for Sally’s life with all her stubbornness.
The two families found their way through the forest of thorns. They were reaching for the Eden they once knew of life together, and bit by bit made it back there. Larry’s writing career took off, which gave him confidence and at times a little pride for his striving and success despite all that came against him. Sally gained more mobility than had been expected and kept her beautiful, gentle temperament. Sid’s work as a professor continued to thrive, which made Charity joyful, though Sid couldn’t help but compare himself to Larry—because being a college professor wasn’t his dream but Charity’s, and he wanted to be a quiet, nature-observing poet.
Who was the villain? The answer seemed evasive.
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