Omensetter's Luck by William H. Gass
"Omensetter's Luck," a novel by William H. Gass, explores the life of Brackett Omensetter, a charismatic and seemingly carefree man, who moves with his pregnant wife and two daughters to the small town of Gilean along the Ohio River in the late nineteenth century. The novel delves into the contrasting characters of Omensetter and Henry Pimber, a local blacksmith who, despite being drawn to Omensetter's charm, perceives him as foolish and careless. This dynamic sets the stage for themes of luck, grace, and the complexities of human relationships within the confines of small-town life.
As events unfold, Pimber's adulation of Omensetter turns into a desperate longing to emulate his grace, culminating in Pimber's tragic demise that sparks intensity and conflict in the town. The narrative raises questions about the nature of luck, the limits of human agency, and the repercussions of envy, as well as the societal dynamics at play when someone disrupts the status quo. Gass crafts a story rich in philosophical undertones and character introspection, ultimately leaving readers to ponder the enduring legacy of Omensetter's luck in the lives of those around him, even as normalcy reasserts itself in Gilean after his departure.
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Omensetter's Luck by William H. Gass
First published: 1966
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Symbolic realism
Time of plot: 1890’s
Locale: Gilean, Ohio
Principal characters
Brackett Omensetter , a newcomer to GileanHenry Pimber , a neighbor of OmensetterJethro Furber , the pastorIsrabestis Tott , a storyteller
The Story:
Brackett Omensetter moves his pregnant wife, Lucy, and their two daughters to Gilean, a late nineteenth century town on the Ohio River. After persuading the blacksmith to hire him as an assistant, Omensetter visits Henry Pimber to rent a house. Although the gentle Pimber responds immediately to Omensetter’s charismatic ease and self-confidence, he considers Omensetter “a foolish, dirty, careless man.” Nevertheless, Omensetter’s “carelessness” stirs him, for it seems to him to be the basis of spiritual grace. Unlike Pimber, who is clumsy and heavy-hearted, Omensetter seems buoyant: “Shed of his guilty skin, who wouldn’t dance?” Pimber asks himself.
When Pimber comes by one day to collect the rent, Omensetter takes him to see a fox that fell into the well and is now trapped at the bottom. When Omensetter refuses to intervene to save the fox or do anything to put him out of his misery, Pimber shoots several rifle shots down into the well. Besides killing the fox, Pimber also wounds himself when a bullet ricochets off a stone wall and penetrates his arm. The wound becomes badly infected and leads to lockjaw, and Dr. Truxton Orcutt, the town doctor, is unable to cure him. As Pimber’s life ebbs, the Reverend Jethro Furber prays for his soul, but Omensetter prepares a beet root poultice that, to everyone’s amazement, saves Pimber’s life.
The townspeople in Gilean, already impressed by Omensetter’s manner and curious luck, now regard him with amazement. Pimber heals slowly, his gratitude toward Omensetter deepening into adulation. Having wearied of the routine of life in Gilean and of his wife’s habitual demands, Pimber feels the need to possess Omensetter’s grace and fluency, his “wide and happy” relation to the natural world around him. Compared with Omensetter, the normal people of Gilean seem ghostly and unreal to Pimber.
Pimber learns that Omensetter’s luck cannot be learned or his way of life be imitated. Unable to establish a meaningful relationship with Omensetter, Pimber, weakened and dispirited and swept by a wave of self-pity, hangs himself from one of the topmost branches of a remote oak tree.
Because of the isolated location of the tree Pimber had chosen, the townspeople of Gilean cannot find his body. Furber, who dislikes Omensetter with fanatical intensity—even to the point of persuading himself that Omensetter might be the devil—exploits Pimber’s disappearance to turn the townspeople against the newcomer. Omensetter remains oblivious to Furber’s hatred and to being ostracized, just as he had been oblivious to Pimber’s love.
When Furber discovers Pimber’s body in the tree, Omensetter visits Furber to ask him to convince the townspeople of his innocence. Confronted by Omensetter’s directness, as well as his sheer ordinariness and vulnerability, Furber’s hatred vanishes. His combativeness takes on a new purpose and meaning when he learns that Omensetter’s infant son, Amos, has become seriously ill. He strives to convince Omensetter to send for Dr. Orcutt, whom Omensetter distrusts. Omensetter refuses, apparently as unable to save his son as he was unwilling to rescue the fox. When Lucy begs him to bring the doctor, Omensetter can only counsel her to trust in his “luck.” Having listened to the townspeople of Gilean speak so reverently about it, Omensetter has, at last, come to believe in it, an act of self-consciousness that Furber laments as a fall from grace.
The crisis of Amos’s illness coincides with the removal of Pimber’s body from the tree. While Lucy despairs, several of the village men argue intensely among themselves about whether Omensetter is guilty of Pimber’s death. Orcutt arrives at Omensetter’s house in time to apply the force of common sense and logic to the argument, in favor of Omensetter’s innocence, and thus saves his life. Nevertheless, he feels he has arrived too late to save Amos. While Orcutt reasons with the men, Furber improvises mad, pointless, and obscene limericks.
Amos’s illness lifts by the following February, and the Omensetters move down river. Amos “lingered on alive, an outcome altogether outside science.” Omensetter’s luck remains a legend on the Ohio River for quite a while, “perhaps forever.” With Omensetter and Furber gone, equilibrium and drab normalcy return to Gilean, as symbolized in the person of the well-balanced, innocuous new minister, Mr. Huffley.
Bibliography
Ammon, Theodore G., ed. Conversations with William H. Gass. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003. A collection of interviews with Gass, in which the author discusses his ideas about writing and the philosophical ideas that have influenced his work. Includes a debate with John Gardner, in which the two writers express their differences about the art of fiction writing.
Brans, Jo. Listen to the Voices: Conversations with Contemporary Writers. Dallas, Tex.: Southern Methodist University Press, 1988. Includes an interview with the author that provides interesting anecdotes about the composition of Omensetter’s Luck.
Hix, H. L. Understanding William H. Gass. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2002. Hix examines similarities between Gass’s fiction and nonfiction works and explores the ethical, metaphysical, and psychological themes in four novels and other writings. Chapter 2 is devoted to an analysis of Omensetter’s Luck.
Holloway, Watson. William Gass. Boston: Twayne, 1990. A comprehensive study of Gass that includes a chapter devoted to the major themes in Omensetter’s Luck.
Hove, Thomas B. “William H. Gass.” In Postmodernism: The Key Figures, edited by Hans Bertens and Joseph Natoli. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2002. This examination of postmodernism not only includes authors, like Gass, but screenwriters, directors, actors, visual artists, and philosophers. The essay on Gass summarizes his work, and the book places him within a larger cultural context.
McCaffery, Larry. The Metafictional Muse: The Works of Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme, and William H. Gass. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982. Includes a chapter on Gass that examines his essays, short stories, and novels, including Omensetter’s Luck. The author places Gass’s work in the context of a “contemporary metasensibility.”
Saltzman, Arthur M. The Fiction of William Gass: The Consolation of Language. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986. In the chapter on Omensetter’s Luck, Saltzman analyzes the works of Gass with reference to the author’s philosophical beliefs about the insularity of fiction.
Tanner, Tony. Scenes of Nature, Signs of Men. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987. An overview of twenty-five years of American fiction. Includes a skillful summary of Omensetter’s Luck.