One Of Ours

At their family farm along Lovely Creek, a small rural community near Frankfort, Nebraska, the Wheeler family lives with their household: the intelligent, self-doubting, and aimless 19-year-old Claude Wheeler; the Wheeler family cook, Mahailey, an illiterate but kindhearted elderly woman from the impoverished hills of Virginia who has a special fondness for Claude; Claude’s father, Nat Wheeler, a successful farmer, distributor, and businessman; Claude’s mother, Evangeline Wheeler, a well-educated but puritanically religious woman who feels a deep connection to Claude; Claude’s older brother, Bayliss, a thin, “dyspeptic” man obsessed with material advancement, who condemns all pleasurable activities and runs a farm implement business; and Claude’s slovenly younger brother, Ralph, who is obsessed with any new gadgets that make labor quick and easy.

Claude often finds himself at odds with his surroundings, caught in uncomfortable “in-between” spaces. He objects to the careless and cruel ways farm laborers handle their animals but feels distant from farming as a profession. He disagrees with Bayliss’s miserly habits and Prohibitionist beliefs but feels compelled to defend Bayliss against locals who object to his personality (such as his former high school classmate, the strong-bodied and strong-willed Leonard Dawson). Claude feels torn between his ingrained identity as a hardworking American—influenced by his father’s capitalist ambitions—his belief that real “men” must repress their emotions and bitter feelings, and his desire for deeper cultural and intellectual stimulation. Dissatisfied with himself, his environment, and his prospects, he has “come to believe that the things and people he most disliked were the ones that were to shape his destiny” (55).

Claude’s closest friend is another local farmer from Bohemia (the modern-day Czech Republic) named Ernest Havel. Fond of storytelling and philosophical discussion, Ernest opens Claude’s mind to perspectives beyond his small Nebraska community. Claude is far less stimulated, however, by his studies at the religious Temple school he attends in Lincoln. He attends the Temple school at the recommendation of Brother Weldon (whom his mother trusts a little too easily), a traveling preacher who holds great influence in the community. Claude repeatedly tells his parents that he finds the preachers at his Temple school to be small-minded, ignorant, and unprogressive, and that he would prefer to attend the State University. His mother nervously protests that Brother Weldon claims the professors at the State University are “ungodly.” Whenever Claude arrives in Lincoln, his first stop is a restaurant owned by a warmhearted German proprietress, with whom he is on friendly terms.

Eventually, Claude manages to transfer to the State University, where he majors in European Studies. There, he befriends Julius Erlich, a fellow student and quarter on the State University team. Julius comes from a proud German family that hosts regular intellectual and creative salons with other young people. Mrs. Erlich, Julius’s elegant widowed mother, seems to derive particular satisfaction from catering to groups of intelligent young men and entertaining them with her beautiful singing. Claude begins to regularly attend these salons, where he is introduced to a different European lifestyle. He notes that although the Erlichs are poor, they live well and spend their money on small pleasures rather than on tools and machines. Though Claude finds these gatherings exciting and stimulating, he also feels he doesn’t quite fit in with his unstylish clothing, his rural farming background, and his lack of comparative refinement.

Claude devotes himself to his studies, especially his term paper on Joan of Arc. He feels very connected to the story of Joan of Arc because his mother, who is equally fond of it, shared it with him at an early age. He gradually comes to understand that this French story was one of his earliest introductions to the world outside of Lovely Creek. Claude also observes that his sensitive, self-sacrificing mother is symbolically akin to Joan of Arc in his imagination.

When Claude returns home for his semester break, Nat announces that he has purchased a ranch in Yucca County, Colorado, with the hopes of expanding his family’s financial horizons. He will move to Colorado with Ralph in order to establish the ranch. Nat tells Claude that he must quit his university studies to take care of the family farm. Claude is greatly dismayed by this decision, in which he has no say, and his mother is heartbroken on his behalf.

Nevertheless, Claude works hard to develop and improve the family farm. Over time, he becomes increasingly competent in his duties, though he never feels a sense of purpose or belonging. Ernest advises Claude to seek pleasure and satisfaction in his daily environment, reflecting that Americans are always looking for meaning outside themselves. Claude’s lack of belonging is further augmented when he goes to visit the Erlichs. Feeling out of place and out of practice, he sadly deduces that he is meant to live “out in the big, lonely country, where people worked hard with their backs and got tired like the horses, and were too sleepy at night to think of anything to say” (143).

Over the Christmas holiday, the family gathers together at the farm on Lovely Creek. Ralph, bedecked in extravagant new clothes and jewelry, has been spending their father’s money frivolously. They discuss the Erlichs’ plans to go into business together, and Julius Erlich’s plan to study abroad and become a professor. Though Bayliss snidely comments that their business will fail, as they are too fond of “fine living,” Claude notes that Julius can go abroad and study for his doctoral degree and still live on less than Ralph wastes each year.

Bayliss insists that he and Claude take two local ladies—Gladys Farmer and Enid Royce—for an evening sleigh ride. Bayliss courts Gladys, a striking and intelligent young woman from a poor family who teaches at the local high school, with the hope that she will marry him out of financial desperation. Though Gladys doesn’t like Bayliss, she begrudgingly accepts his attention. Claude hopes that Gladys won’t marry his brother and feels disappointed whenever he senses her giving in. He also feels angry that she can turn her affections on and off and secretly wishes she displayed affection for him.

Enid is a more delicately attractive, soft-spoken young woman whose father is a well-to-do grain merchant. She and Claude used to be playmates as children, and he finds himself drawn to her on the sleigh ride.