I found this section of Stegner’s memoir, Wolf Willow, incredibly enjoyable to read. As a memoir, I felt that it had a nice balance of scene setting and reflection. I especially enjoyed the way Stegner does his reflective pieces, and I would like to spend some time talking about it.
This section is very clearly about Stegner as a child (he says he is 6-11) learning to live on and with the land. In the beginning of this portion, we get that sense without him ever needing to state it outright. He does this by choosing very specific adjectives, and creating phrases that give this feeling. Some examples of this are at the end of the first paragraph on 25 where he says they spent “five summers vainly trying”, and in the middle of the next paragraph when he describes the truck “stuck up black and foreign”.
After these few paragraphs he solidifies these feelings with a paragraph of more straightforward reflections. The first sentence of the last paragraph on 25 states “Because this was the essential feeling I had about the country-- the sense of being foreign and noticeable, of sticking out.” Stegner uses this pattern of scene and summary incredibly effectively; first he sets up the scene, and alludes to the feelings within the scene, then moves into a paragraph or two of pure reflection that leads into the next scene. By doing this the audience gets a clear picture of his experience and also how this experience affected him.
The other big thing I feel is worth mentioning is the use of rhetorical questions to create reflection and audience connection. Usually, I am not a huge fan of the rhetorical question, and I am not sure how I feel about it in this piece either. The part I am referring to us on page 37. This part at the end of the section provided is essentially a list of questions. There are two whole paragraphs dedicated to this strategy, and then in the following paragraph, the last paragraph on 37-38, he answers the questions.
Through this progression of questions and answers the audience gets an even stronger sense of what the prairie meant to Stegner. Additionally, by framing it the way he does, it seems like a sense of what anyone on the prairie at that time would have felt. Not being a pioneer, I don’t know if this is true or not, but the way he writes it certainly seems to be speaking for the majority.
I like a lot of the writing within these few paragraphs, and I think what he says is interesting, but I feel that this much solid reflection and philosophizing took away from the scene a little too much. It seemed drastically different than the rest of the piece, and the switch in pace threw me off a little. I think Stegner could have easily worked these ideas into scenes more, and I feel that it would have been just as powerful and even more compelling (at least for me).
The end of the section tidily ties up the loose ends, and gives a sense of closure to the story. After much contemplative reflection, he ends on a positive quote from his mother, which adds some (much needed) humor to lift the somber mood he sets with his reflections.