41 pages • 1-hour read
The Great Turkey Walk
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Background
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.
Historical Context: The American West in 1860
The Great Turkey Walk is set in the American West in 1860. It begins on the border between Missouri and the Kansas Territory, and as the action continues, the protagonist, Simon, travels toward Denver. Two aspects of the history of this area are especially relevant to the story’s plot.
In 1860, the US was divided by the institution of slavery. The practice of enslavement was still legal in the American South and in parts of the West, but it was illegal in other parts of the country. Heated political battles were fought between those who believed in slavery and those who believed in abolition.
One of these battles resulted in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, a law that allowed Western settlers to vote on whether to allow slavery in their newly organized territories. Not everyone agreed with this new law, and conflicts between abolitionists and pro-slavery forces erupted into violence again and again. These violent confrontations earned Kansas the nickname “Bleeding Kansas.” Another controversial law of this era was the Fugitive Slave Act. This law made it illegal to help people fleeing from enslavement and required people to turn in these freedom seekers—even if they successfully made it out of slave territory into supposedly “free” states. It is in this dangerous and volatile atmosphere that the character of Jabeth Ballou decides to try to free himself from his enslavers.
Another important aspect of this era in the American West is the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. From 1859 to 1861, about 100,000 prospectors poured into the Rocky Mountains, hoping to strike it rich by finding gold. Towns like Denver grew very rapidly—so rapidly that there were food shortages and prices were very high. Some enterprising farmers and ranchers began transporting livestock and other food overland from places like Kansas and Missouri. Even though it was expensive to transport these things, the farmers and ranchers could still make a big profit because prices in Denver were so high. This is exactly what Simon is hoping to do when he undertakes his “Great Turkey Walk.”
Literary Context: Picaresque Novels
The Great Turkey Walk is part of a literary tradition called the “picaresque.” This term is derived from picaro, a Spanish word that means a “rascal” or “rogue.” Picaresque novels center on the adventures of protagonists who are not classically heroic—instead, picaresque heroes are charming adventurers, often of low social status, who get by using their wits, daring, and luck instead of by following rules and social conventions.
Besides their “rogue” heroes, picaresque novels have other traits in common. They tend to have a satirical tone, for instance, and be critical of the society around the hero, often emphasizing how society can be cruel, unfair, and hypocritical. Most follow a loose plot structure referred to as “episodic” plotting. This means that instead of the conventional five-part plot, they are structured as a series of episodes, like a television series. Each episode has its own mini-conflict and a beginning, middle, and end. Taken together, the episodes form a larger story arc. Often, this story arc is centered on a journey, like Simon Green’s attempt to drive his turkeys from Missouri to the territory that will someday be Colorado.
The picaresque novel has its roots in Spanish literature. One of the most famous early examples from Spain, written in the early 1600s, is Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote. Picaresque novels quickly became popular in other countries—French author Voltaire wrote Candide in 1759, and English and American writers have contributed well-known examples like Moll Flanders (1722), The History of Tom Jones (1749), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). More contemporary examples of the picaresque include John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces (1980), Salman Rushdie’s Quichotte (2019), Isabel Allende’s Eva Luna (1987), and Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus (1984).
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