Train Dreams Chapters 5-7

1. Train Dreams Chapters 5-7 Kayleigh Lane

2. Novel Background • Originally published in 2002 in the Paris Review • Won the Aga Kahn Prize for Fiction from the Paris Review • Became a novel in 2007, where in 2012 it was finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. (no prize was chosen for the year of 2012)

3. History • Early 1900s: • Ford Model T created in 1908 (the first car) • Wright Brothers: First successful airplane flight in 1903 • Roaring twenties, Great Depression • Innovation and westward change

4. Summary: Chapter 5 • Grainier’s realization of his old age. • He helps the Pinkhams out and their grandson Hank dies when they lift sacks of cornmeal. • Grainier’s confused reaction to death, regret over the boomer and his part in the Chinese Railroad Hand’s death. • He drives Mr. Peterson to a doctor because he was “shot by his dog.”

5. Summary: Chapter 6 • Follows Grainier’s life in his “lean-to” home on his old land. • His bad dreams about his wife and daughter that soon lead to other less horrific dreams. • The spiritual “visit” from Gladys and the realization that she drowned and his daughter Kate might still be alive.

6. Summary: Chapter 7 • Grainier takes up howling as a sport, has a new hauling business. • Aging process shows through join problems and skinniness due to jaw displacement, no longer a woodsman. • The plane ride in which “all his life’s mysteries were answered.” • The trip for Claire Thompson where Eddie’s marriage proposal is shot down and Grainier realizes that he is alone.

7. Major Themes • Death/Hardship: • The boy Hank just: “sat on the pile of sacks, removed his hat, flopped over sideways, and died” (58). • “He didn’t know what to say or do. He felt he should leave, and he felt he shouldn’t leave”(60). • Animals and Humans • “that animal all of a sudden knew things”(68). • Pilot-raccoon, Grainier-howling • Humans vs. Nature • “Grainer disliked the shadows…It all seemed designed to frighten the child in him” (65).

8. Major Themes • Modernization: • “when the election season came…the mysteries in the hills…were forgotten for a while” (73). • “How did it fly when its wings stayed still?” (84). • “explosive machines” • Religion/Supernatural: • “she tossed away the bible…This uncovering of her indifference to God, the Father of All-this was her undoing”(78). • Glady’s visit in spirit form. • “Curse of the China-man”

9. Questions • What do you think was the significance of the story of Mr. Peterson(the man who was shot by his dog)? What light does it shed on how humans and animals get along? • What was the importance of the visit from Gladys? (what it did for the rest of the book) • Why didn’t Grainier, upon finding out Kate is still alive, start to look for her?

10. Sources • Train Dreams by Denis Johnson • http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-04-18/lifestyle/35450639_1_train-dreams-swamplandia-novel • http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/13/train-dreams-denis-johnson-review • http://www.ocinsite.com/index.php/blog/comments/oc_book_blog_train_dreams_by_denis_johnson