The Amish Farmer by Vance Bourjaily
"The Amish Farmer" by Vance Bourjaily explores complex interpersonal relationships against the backdrop of an Amish community. The narrative is framed through the perspective of a university writing instructor, Vance, who recounts a past incident involving his former graduate student, Noel Butler, and his wife, Dawn. The story delves into themes of love, betrayal, and cultural differences, as it highlights Noel's struggles with his wife's infidelities and the impact of living on an Amish farm.
Noel, portrayed as a devoted husband, grapples with the allure of Dawn's attraction to Daniel, their Amish landlord. The tension escalates when a winter storm isolates Dawn and Daniel, leading to a moment of intimacy that Noel later discovers. The narrative raises questions about fidelity, desire, and the societal expectations inherent in both the Amish lifestyle and the broader cultural context in which Vance and his students exist.
As the story unfolds, Vance encourages his students, particularly Katie Jay, to examine the narrative's perspectives, prompting discussions about how different viewpoints could alter the understanding of the events. The dramatic conclusion leaves readers contemplating the repercussions of the characters’ choices and the fragility of human relationships, inviting further exploration of the motivations and cultural nuances at play.
On this Page
The Amish Farmer by Vance Bourjaily
First published: 1980
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: The twentieth century
Locale: Indiana
Principal Characters:
Vance , the narrator, a university writing teacherKatie Jay , a student in his classNoel Butler , his friend during his graduate student daysDawn Butler , Noel's wifeDaniel , the Butlers' Amish landlord
The Story
Vance teaches writing at an Indiana university. He has a student named Katie Jay from whom he tries to elicit a particular response by telling his class a story. He instructs them to pay particular attention to the crucial function of his story's narrative point of view. His story goes back to a time ten years earlier when one of his fellow graduate students, Noel Butler, called begging to see him because someone had just tried to kill him. As Vance awaited Noel's arrival, he remembered the circumstances under which he had met Butler and his beautiful wife, Dawn. Noel was a competent and popular graduate student who was desperately in love with his wife. Vance had met Dawn at a departmental party, where her sexuality caused him—and most of the other men—to act like a foolish schoolboy. Despite being smitten, Vance was aware of Dawn's sexual ploys and instability. There was something dangerous about her intimacies—such as her tight gripping of Vance's wrist in seeming desperation.
Earlier, Noel had had to struggle to persuade Dawn to leave Boston to join him in Indiana with her five-year-old son, Jimmer (the son of a famous but cruel choreographer). He arranged for his family to live on an Amish farm, twenty miles—and three centuries—away from his campus. Dawn agreed to live in this remote place because of their previous "interesting experiences" in Boston. As Noel told Vance, the struggle of living through their first harsh winter on the farm made living there worthwhile.
The Butlers' thirty-two-year-old Amish landlord, Daniel, was the youngest and favorite son of an Old Order Amish patriarch. Daniel cared well for his farm, his wife and seven children, and his community of fellow believers. Although the Amish themselves do not use modern technology, he provided the Butlers' cottage with electricity and a telephone.
It was Daniel, Noel told Vance, who tried to kill him. Noel admitted that he had failed to recognize how strongly Dawn and Daniel were attracted to each other until he figured out when they first consummated their relationship. During a treacherous winter storm Noel had had to leave Dawn stranded while he struggled back to the farm to check on Jimmer's well-being and to get help. The only person available to help was Daniel, who violated Amish precepts by driving an old tractor through the storm to rescue Dawn. Vance suspected that the forbidding storm conditions placed Dawn and Daniel into a situation in which they became "the only man and woman in the world," and that their desire for each other became too great to resist.
After drawing this conclusion, Noel accused Dawn of unfaithfulness, but she denied it and mocked him. The following spring, Noel came home early one day and saw Daniel leaving his house. He again accused his wife of unfaithfulness and told her that he was leaving. When Daniel saw them fighting, he attacked Noel with a wrench.
Noel now wanted Vance to go back to the farm with him to help him fetch his belongings. Dawn then called him, asking her husband to talk with Daniel, who was in an agony of shame. Together, they met with the farmer, who asked Noel to forgive him and pray for him. Nevertheless, Dawn, her son, and Daniel moved to northern Indiana, where they still live. Noel finished his graduate studies and later left the state.
Vance asks his class to analyze his story to assess what would change if it were told from another perspective. His students, however, do not believe that anyone but him could tell it. Katie Jay's failure to enter the discussion disappoints Vance, who hoped to hear what she would say about Dawn because of what she has revealed about her own casual attitude toward sex. Vance then lectures that if his story were to be a tragedy, it should be by Daniel's father, who would see the incident as a precursor to the breakdown of his Amish community. Afterward, Katie does not leave with the rest of the class. When Vance approaches her, she grips his arm—as Dawn did ten years earlier—and tells him haltingly that she needs an Amish farmer herself.