Who do you root for?

David Brower

Floyd Dominy

Charles Park

Charles Fraser



John McPhee

Talking points for class presentation:

Encounters with the Archdruid, in a sense,  is three extended scenes where McPhee makes some choice maneuvers into backstory. The essential resonance of the book comes from the three different characters trekking through three different zones of environmental contention and their interactions with David Brower. 

One of the striking things about the book was that it didn't follow the typical environmental schema. Usually when I read about environmentalism I expect to hear someone say, “By God look at what they’ve done! , Exxon Mobil, BP, U.S. Gov., whoever." It seems like it’s always a right-or-wrong, good-or-bad frame. So, it was interesting to me that this book and this thesis of “what is conservation?” was a much more complicated, well rounded question which called for more complicated, well rounded characters.

McPhee's keen ability to make keen observations and to let the characters grow through the narration gave a texturing that allowed for such complications.

These observations include some incredible dialogue. I had highlighted page 11 and page 138 but of course it's strewn throughout. Page 138 features one of the scenes where Fraser belittles Candler  and proves he’s not the conservationist he claims to be. The dialogue between Fraser and Candler also goes a long ways to developing Brower. It’s telling a detail that Brower didn't stand up for Candler (or become argumentative with Fraser in any sense.)   

But McPhee also has some of his most telling details in his back story. Like the bit about how Parker loved basketball so much that he went to two churches every Sunday so that he could play basketball for each church.  Once he stopped playing basketball, he never went to church again, with exception of the day he was married.

It's these little details that fleshed out McPhee's characters. It's these human details, like Dominy firing up a bulldozer in desperate times to dam a pond for his Wyoming brethren. (And you can tell McPhee went to Wyoming and visited this farm where Dominy's first dam existed!)

And then, of course, there's Brower who McPhee, throughout his clever structure, develops from beginning to end. Brower grows from from toothless, butterfly-chasing kid to a powerhouse broker in environmental matters to his Sierra Club dethroning.

So I guess my point would have been that if you take the time to create well rounded characters showing both their flaws and their strengths, it makes the traditional protagonist vs. antagonist dichotomy moot.