Last Bus To Wisdom: A Novel

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-8

Part 2, Chapters 9-14

Part 3, Chapters 15-22

Part 3, Chapters 23-30

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Background

Historical-Geographical Context: Montana, 1951

Though geographically the fourth-largest state at just over 140,000 square miles, in 1951, Montana’s population was less than 600,000. Thus, when Donal reaches the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, he was in a metropolitan area with a population 200,000 people larger than the entire state of Montana. About 6% of Montanans in the 1950s were members of Indigenous American nations, as described by Donal, representing 12 distinct Indigenous tribal groups. Before colonization, these and other Indigenous groups moved freely about the area, trading with northwestern coastal nations, accounting for the pre-Columbian obsidian arrowhead Donal discovers.

Though only about half of the citizens had indoor plumbing or electrical service in 1950, things were changing in mid-20th-century Montana. As Donal describes it, a heavy equipment operator like his father would have found lots of work on infrastructure projects. As he notes, there were new mining ventures commencing, particularly around Butte. The area that draws the attention of Donal and Herman, the Big Hole, is a vast valley in northwestern Montana ringed by mountain ranges where mining and foresting industries predominate, along with large cattle ranches and agricultural interests that attracted migrant workers like the Johnson family.

Historical Context: Greyhound Van Lines

In 1951, construction on the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System had not begun. Apart from travel by automobile, which was arduous, there were three other methods of rapid transit: turboprop airplanes, passenger trains, and buses. Plane flights were relatively expensive, out of the reach of subsistence workers like Dorothea. Trains, while more affordable than flights, had limited transit points. A round-trip ticket for Donal to and from Manitowoc would cost about $55, plus the expense of getting to and from Great Falls, his departure point. By comparison, a national round-trip Greyhound bus ticket was less than $45. Family, business, and even vacation travel by bus, as Donal discovers, was far more prevalent in 1951 than today.

Greyhound stations, as Donal and Herman find, are always located in downtown sections of metropolitan areas. While there were often no posted speed limits on state and national highways, Greyhounds usually traveled from 25-45 miles per hour. Donal notes the monotony of the bus’s constant speed. His initial ride from Great Falls to Manitowoc, which on interstate highways today would take about 20 hours, entailed 72 hours of riding on the bus with frequent stops. Depending on the model, the buses were 40-45 feet long, usually with 45 seats and a single restroom. During the period of Donal’s trips on the Greyhound, there were no assigned seats.

Sociohistorical Context: Mid-20th-century American Culture

As Doig describes his narrator’s trip from the mountainous Northwest to the Upper Midwest Great Lakes region, he introduces readers to many elements of American culture from the mid-20th century that have changed dramatically or disappeared. One of the most obvious distinctions he highlights are the changes in dialect, as discussed in the Colloquialism entry in the Literary Devices section of this Guide. The regional jargon changes so dramatically as the main characters head west that Herman asks how many different English languages there are. Doig involves other bygone aspects of American culture that were commonplace in the narrative, such as radio soap operas and S&H Green Stamps. The stamps were a common reward shoppers received from retailers and merchants; Donal receives S&H Green Stamps from a bus driver. The stamps could be traded for merchandise, usually from a catalogue, although Donal uses his at a western wear store in Montana. Donal’s autograph book, also called a memory book, is another relic of his time.

The author also captures the changing, often turbulent nature of American society in the mid-century. Montana’s infrastructure booms so much that Donal’s father knows that he can secure his family’s future with the lease of a bulldozer. Senator Joe McCarthy roils the federal government—stirring the FBI into action—through his hunt for supposed Communist sympathizers. Manitowoc, a once-bustling ore port on Lake Michigan, settles into disuse, its aging, childless population dwindling. Through Donal’s discoveries of these cultural realities, Doig introduces readers to the changing society of the US in 1951.