Analysis of 'The Hurt Man' by Wendell Berry

The hurt man by Wendell Berry. It is kind of an all-knowing narrator, but we only hear about things that involve Mat. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to the little five year old boy, Mat Feltner, who is also the main character. We hear about parts of his life and also an episode that he remembers, and which affected him throughout his life. The story takes place in a town called, Port William, in the 1880s. Mat is the child of Nancy and Ben Feltner and is properly an only child. His two sisters and his brother died very young and are buried on the graveyard. If we look at the environment which Mat is living in, Port William is consisted of two rows of houses – no one dignifies it by calling it a street. In one end there is a school and in the other end lays the graveyard. Which is kind of opposites because the school can symbolize life, young children and “the beginning”, while the graveyard symbolizes death, old people and “the end”. The scary part is that in this story it isn’t like that. Death is all around and young people die as well as old people. The town is a dangerous place where no one is safe, not even children. Between the school and the graveyard there is several stores, two saloons, a church, a bank, a hotel and a blacksmith shop. I find it noticeable that in this town there are two saloons, because to me that just mean that there would be twice as much trouble. I can’t stop thinking about movies about the Wild West, because I imagine how people go into a saloon and gamble, drink and whore, and then someone would get into a fight – they always does. All this combined with the fact that everyone was allowed to have a gun is equal certain death. We are looking at an unsafe, violent and dangerous town. The roads are uneven and it has once been a buffalo trace. When you hear the name Port William you could imagine that there will be a lot pass-through people, because a port is often a place where you stop for supplies and maybe to spend the night and go to a saloon. You could imagine that the town is full of strangers which again would make the town unsafe. Mat sees the town as a place with a lot of anger. That could be because of the unsafe environment but also because of slavery. Slavery ended in the 1860s and in the story we hear about Cass’ husband who had been a slave. It’s not the central of attention in the story but you can imagine that it would have an effect on people. “The proof of mortality would be given in blood” it is very poetic and it means that if you are mortal you can bleed. It also means that people are not afraid of hurting each other and that it happens daily. In this town the graveyard is more popular than the town itself – which is a metaphor of people dying frequently. It is only on the graveyard you gain immortality, because with your name on a headstone you will be remembered forever. Mats parents are Nancy and Ben but the narrator doesn’t call them parents but “grown-ups” which sounds strange. Nancy and Ben are very protective of Mat and are watching him to make sure that’s he’s all right. But after he turned five, his parents were too busy to look after him and they let him go out on his own.