The Jump-Off Creek- Molly Gloss

Author: Molly Gloss | Title: The Jump-Off Creek | Genre: Western | Publication Date: August 3, 2005 Number of Pages: 208 

Geographical Setting: Oregon | Time Period: 1890s

Plot Summary: 

Lydia Sanderson, a woman of few words and even fewer means, invested in her independence by buying a farm near the Jump-Off Creek. After making a cross-country journey, she finds her new land gone to seed. Not only must she make something of the land by winter, but poachers have been stealing local farm animals to bait and poison wolves. She is determined to survive on her own, and quickly makes friends with her neighbors Tim Whiteaker and Blue Odell. Together, the three settlers set out for battle against nature, poverty, and wolfers’ greed.

Characteristics for Western:

Setting- This story is set against a “dangerous but beautiful backdrop” filled with “treacherous terrain” (Saricks 152). The opening chapters, which describe the end of Lydia’s passage to the Jump-Off Creek, describe especially treacherous terrain. There is also an “imprecision of time and place,” as the best way to determine where or when this book is set is to read the dust jacket. However, it is set in the Western United States (Oregon) between the Civil War and 1900 (1890s) (151). Since everyone is so separated from civilization, it is easy to lose all sense of time and place.

Characterization- Lydia combines the primary “loner” protagonist with the secondary “good woman” who “works to make a home in the wilderness” (152-3). She (as well as Tim and Blue) is stoic and taciturn, tackling hard work and impossible living conditions without batting an eye.

Storyline/ Theme- Saricks listed redemption and justice as common Western storylines. Lydia could count as “damaged characters seeking escape, healing, or redemption,” as she wants to begin her own life (no spoilers as to why) (153). This theme could also be attributed to other characters, although the side characters are written sparsely so it may require a stretch. Furthermore, Saricks lists “the difficulties of living in a harsh landscape” as a major Western theme, which is at least 80% of the book’s content (151). Justice also plays a mild role in the book, as the wolfers are presented as a form of villain. However, this justice comes at a price and is not played as strongly as in traditional Westerns.

Language/Style- Most of the book is devoted to describing work, and everything is told in a “straightforward fashion” (155). While the dialogue is not quite “monosyllabic” as Saricks cites, it is very sparse (155). Both the characters and the overall prose is very mater-of-fact, and Gloss does not shy away from gore, violence, or any other forms of unpleasantness.

Read-alikes:

Nonfiction-

The Magnificent Mountain Women- Janet Robertson

Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier- Linda S. Peavy

Bad Land: An American Romance- Jonathan Raban

Fiction-

Caroline- Sarah Elizabeth Miller

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow- Olivia Hawker

The Trouble with Patience- Maggie Brendan

These is My Words- Maggie Snelling

Similar Authors: Kent Haruf, Sandra Dallas, Kaye Gibbons