Native (review)

Bison Books' reissue of Native places the novel by William Haywood Henderson squarely within the context of Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain" and the death of Matthew Shepard, both of which its original publication date, 1993, predates: "The themes played out in these events, Henderson handles subtly and delicately in this strange and urgent and painful novel" (ix). Though there are thematic similarities between these three narratives, and though it is appropriate that this novel receive a wider readership, the ambiguities of Native go beyond being either a "gay cowboy love story" or the portrait of a western hate-crime.

At the heart of the novel is Blue, a twenty-three-year-old ranch foreman who is in love with the landscape of his Wyoming community, both geographic and personal. His wandering father deposited him and his mother there, rationalizing that the physical beauty could compensate for their abandonment: "These are your mountains. Maybe that's why I brought you here" (182). Blue has remained tangential to the folks he has grown up with, finding comfort in their company before he returns to the isolation of the ranch and beyond. There is a sense that Blue misses the all-male community of the ranch's past, now that hands live in private trailers with televisions and girlfriends rather than sharing the communal life of the bunkhouse. Overall, Blue is a characteristic western figure: solitary, laconic, and reliable.

The novel opens with a scene at the local bar that disrupts Blue's life: He has come to see Sam, a young hand he is drawn to, but their conversation is interrupted by a dancing stranger. Half-Indian Gilbert proclaims himself a berdache, shining a light on the more circumspect Sam. Rather than exhibiting the slow, deliberate behavior of Blue, Sam first recklessly befriends the local bully, Derek, before accepting the dance invitation of Gilbert. Blue and Gilbert both leave Sam to the consequences of Derek's rage. This becomes the pattern of the novel: instead of these three men providing a haven for one another, they continually endanger each other.

Unlike Blue, Sam and Gilbert are clear about their sexuality, but like Blue, they are wanderers with unsatisfying pasts. Though Blue is attracted to both Gilbert and Sam, the extent to which this attraction is romantic or sexual is never clear, to Blue or to the reader. Likewise, the town's ultimate rejection of Blue is less about homophobia than about Blue's inability to trust the townspeople. Instead of allowing his community to assist with Sam's recovery and his protection from further violence from Derek, Blue isolates himself to care for Sam. This independence leads him to shirk the responsibility he owes his friends, his hands, and his boss, a betrayal the community does not tolerate.

Native is a thoroughly western novel about longing and about the implied promises of the landscape to answer the longing of solitary, gay men who simultaneously yearn for isolation and connection. Like "Brokeback Mountain," this story presents men who move across a sexual continuum rather than conform to simple definitions. It is the complexity, the pain, and the ambivalences of these men that make Henderson's Native compelling.