Eastertown (Literature of the American West)

In Max Crawford’s "Eastertown," one character describes the unnamed western plains community at the center of the novel: "It is a very small place. Sometimes you wonder whether it exists at all, it is so small." Crawford’s poignant novel reminds us that there are tragic events so small, so specific to an individual that, like a tree falling in the forest with no one around, they seem inconsequential, but these events have real impact nonetheless. When the family of Doc Bavender, the main character, is struck by a senseless accident, every person in the town is affected.

Shortly after the second world war, Doc Bavender and his good friends Llewellyn and Dorothea Rainborough return home to resume their lives and responsibilities at the local school, the school they themselves once attended. Llewellyn is the school superintendent, and wife Dorothea coaches the school’s drama productions. Doc Bavender teaches science, the field that ultimately leads to this good man’s tragic end.

Throughout the novel, personal lives interweave with a succession of school pageants and plays. The school’s stage is at the heart of the story, even as it is at the heart of the school, and the school at the heart of the town--from the opening chapter with its performance of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and a new but old production of "A Christmas Carol," to the dramatic murder trial to the redemption story of the Easter Pageant and the concluding dramas of the old settlers’ day parade and the school’s commencement.

Through these rites and dramas, some healing is achieved, and those who remain--teachers, students, administrators, townsfolk--know that they will all come together again in time for the start of a new year.