The Big Rock Candy Mountain: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Big Rock Candy Mountain" features a complex cast of characters shaped by their ambitions and struggles. Central to the narrative is Harry "Bo" Mason, a bootlegger driven by an insatiable desire for wealth and adventure, often at the expense of his family and moral integrity. His wife, Elsa Norgaard Mason, yearns for stability and a nurturing home but finds herself increasingly burdened by Bo’s reckless pursuits and volatile temperament. Their older son, Chester (Chet) Mason, idolizes his father yet grapples with the reality of his family's circumstances, leading to a tumultuous early adulthood marked by failed aspirations and personal tragedy. In contrast, their younger son, Bruce Mason, is more introspective and academically inclined, ultimately striving to escape his father's shadow and reflect on the family's legacy. Supporting characters like Elsa's strict father, Nels Norgaard, and her uncle Karl add depth to the family dynamics, highlighting themes of sacrifice, ambition, and the pursuit of the American Dream amidst hardship. This rich exploration of character interactions provides insight into the impact of ambition and the fragility of family ties in the face of adversity.
The Big Rock Candy Mountain: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Wallace Stegner
First published: 1943
Genre: Novel
Locale: North Dakota, Washington, Saskatchewan, Montana, Utah, and Nevada
Plot: Historical realism
Time: 1905–1932
Harry “Bo” Mason, a bootlegger, a man who is always looking for greener pastures. When Elsa Norgaard first meets him, he is running an illegal bar in North Dakota. Although he can be charming, he has a nasty temper and sometimes becomes violent. He falls in love with Elsa and marries her. He is energetic but impatient. Simply earning a living is not enough; he wants to make a fortune quickly. When one plan does not work out, he moves his family somewhere else. the longest the Mason family stays in one place is the five years they spend homesteading in Saskatchewan, but the land is too poor to support them. Bo has little regard for the law, and because bootlegging offers the most potential to make money in a hurry, he gives up all pretense at other occupations and becomes a full-time bootlegger. When Elsa is stricken with cancer, he cannot deal with her illness and finds a mistress. After her death, he begins to feel old. His moneymaking schemes fail, leaving him virtually penniless. His mistress rejects him. When he has no more hope or plans for the future, he kills his mistress and then himself.
Elsa Norgaard Mason, Bo's wife. When Elsa's mother died, her father married Elsa's best friend, a situation with which she could not live. Elsa leaves home when she turns eighteen to live with her uncle in North Dakota. There she meets Bo and is attracted by his dangerous sort of charm, though she feels uneasy about his temper. When her father learns of the romance and disapproves, she marries Bo. Elsa's main desires in life are to have a family, a home, and a stable life in a community with friends. With Bo, she gets none of these. Elsa is worn out from work at an early age. She must be the buffer between her husband and her sons. the one stable force that holds the family together, she sacrifices herself for the others. She succumbs to breast cancer before turning fifty.
Chester (Chet) Mason, Bo and Elsa's older son. Chet is big and strong, like his father, and he aspires to become a major league baseball player, like his father. He is uncomfortable with Bo's bootlegging activities. When he is only seventeen years old, he elopes with Laura Betterton, who is twenty-one, against his parents' wishes. When the Depression hits, he loses his job and must move home. Washed up at the age of twenty-three, he dies of pneumonia.
Bruce Mason, Bo and Elsa's younger son. Bruce is smaller than Chet and not as athletic, but he is much more gifted academically. As a small child, he clings to his mother in fear, a characteristic that makes Bo angry. Bo's anger makes Bruce more fearful. As a boy living on a homestead in Saskatchewan, he hunts gophers passionately and admires his father's skill with a gun, but he is more drawn to books. Deeply attached to his mother, he tries to reject his father. After graduating from high school at the age of fifteen, Bruce escapes to college and eventually to law school. the one survivor of the Mason family, he is the one who reflects on the meaning of the family experience.
Nels Norgaard, Elsa's father. Originally from Norway, he and his wife immigrated to Minnesota because her family disapproved of their marriage because he was beneath her social station. He was strict, not even allowing card games to be played in his house. When Elsa's mother died, he married a woman young enough to be his daughter.
Karl Norgaard, Elsa's uncle, a storekeeper in Hardanger, North Dakota. Less pious than his brother, he is friendly with all kinds of people, including bootleggers and gamblers.
Laura Betterton, Chet's wife. She is four years older than Chet and looking for a way to escape from her parents. After Chet becomes unable to support her, she leaves him.