To what extent has justice been achieved by the end of Montana 1948 PDF

Preview

Summary

An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have traditionally been sub-classified as formal and informa...

Description

1. To what extent has justice been achieved by the end of Montana 1948? The eventful summer in Montana 1948 explores the extent to which justice can be achieved in a perverted system. Following the actions of the Hayden family as they discover if justice will truly prevail when the sheriff himself cannot differentiate guilt and innocence. The story centres around the internal conflict of family loyalty and justice being achieved within the town Sherriff, Wes Hayden, when his very own brother is accused of sexual assault and possibly murder. The narrative ends with the untimely death of Frank, leaving no one accountable for the injustices meaning justice could never be truly achieved in the novel. Justice is the principle that people receive the treatment which the deserve, and this was not presented in the novel. Montana let the Hayden family heavily influence the norms of the town and created a community where the Hayden’s could never have their actions questioned, “they couldn’t arrest us, we are the law”. Signifying the attitude not only the town held but the Hayden family. Meaning when the hero of the town is accused of disgusting crimes everyone was ready to look the other way. “You don’t lock up your brother, a respected man”, encapsulates how Frank had a hold over the town’s perception of him, and highlighted that justice could never be achieved when the accused was held above the law. For a crime to be committed there is not only a perpetrator but also a victim, and for justice to be carried out the victims need to see a punishment being handed out, in the novel there were two main victims who never receive retribution, Marie and David. Marie being a personification of all the native American women who were harmed and never received justice. Marie is the one who first brings the allegations forward to Gail and the Sherriff and is then murdered by Frank. Showing that despite doing what is perceived to be the right thing and to report his crimes she is still punished. “she is an Indian, why would she tell the truth”, This highlight how justice is not achieved in the novel as the race of Marie has a bigger impact on what she says rather than the allegations she is making, demonstrating how the legal system in the small town would never be able to achieve true justice as it was built on personal biases obstructing the process. David is also a victim who never receives justice in the novel, as he is forced to grow up to quickly when he is faced with the reality that one of his childhood idols was corrupt. “I felt I should protect her, though from what I wasn’t sure yet”, demonstrates how David was completely unsuspecting of his charismatic uncle and how his childhood innocence was taken away as he felt the responsibility to try and protect Marie even though he himself was as powerless as she was. Marie and David were entirely innocent throughout the novel and both characters were affected by the actions of Frank however they never saw him receive punishment meaning justice could not have been achieved as no one atoned for the crimes. Justice cannot be achieved without someone taking responsibility for the crimes, and in Montana 1948 no one was held responsible for them. Despite Frank being detained in Wes’s basement he was never truly held accountable for his actions, and even after his death the town and his family covered up what Frank truly was. Franks death did not make up for his actions, nor did it serve as his punishment as it was the easy option out of the situation he was put in. Justice could never have been achieved in the novel as the town already knew about

Frank’s immoral actions and had decided to do nothing about it meaning no one truly wanted justice to prevail as they would need to change the way the town runs. Montana 1948 explores the themes of justice, and the extent it can truly be achieved when it is apparent the accused is more beloved when compared to the victims. The novel highlights that justice cannot be achieved without someone receiving punishment equivalent to their crimes, in a way were the victims or individuals affected are able to see and feel retribution to account for what they went through. Ultimately justice was not achieved as none was punished in a way which made up for the events which occurred throughout the novel....