Power In Larry Watson's Montana 1948

"Early all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power" said Abraham Lincoln. Montana 1948 is a novel written by Larry Watson and narrated by David, a 12 year old boy. In the summer of 1948 many lives were changed and destroyed in the small town of Bentrock Montana because of the crime David's uncle Frank committed. Throughout this novel we learn an important lesson that if one doesn’t know how to handle power it can lead to devastating consequences.
One example of this is seen in Frank's actions. Frank is Bentrock's doctor, a war hero, and a Hayden. In the community the Hayden's carried a lot of power. "…and the weight of the Hayden name–that it was enough for my grandfather to say" (21). The labels

Julian sent people over to Wes's house to break Frank out of the basement. While doing this he went against Wes's wishes. "What happened here? ...Dale Paris. Mickey Krebs. Couple other men who work for your pa" (140). People that have a lot of power tend to think they are doing the right thing. Their vision tends to be blurred in thinking that way because they are so used to getting their way. Even though the person thinks they are using their power in the right way for the right reason it is most likely going to cause major consequences because their judgement was blurred. They only think about themself and how the outcome is going to effect them. Julian abused his power in many instances throughout the book, causing major consequences.
The abuse of power can lead to severe repercussion. I think that power is often abused if someone thinks so or not. Power is a very powerful object and can be taken control of easily. I feel that most of the time the person doesn’t control the power, but the power controls the person. Traits come along with the power that can turn someone to their dark side. As we saw in Montana 1948, having power brings the worst out in people and causes devastating conflict, if they do not use it