Train Dreams

Hard-working and compassionate, Robert Grainier, the protagonist, does not fully know his past. Raised by his aunt and uncle, with no knowledge of his parents or where he came from, Grainier “was never a scholar” (29). Instead, he works as a laborer in both the railroad and logging industries before establishing his own hauling business. His toil and work ethic exemplify the traits required to survive life on the frontier.

Additionally, Grainier is kind and considerate. When Gladys is sick, “it was their custom to let her lie up with a bottle or two of the sweet-tasting Hood’s tonic when her head ached and her nose stopped, and get a holiday from such chores” (7). When Gladys rests, Grainier takes on the chores that are, at the time, typically reserved for women, signaling that his love supersedes societal convention. Grainier exhibits this compassion elsewhere and is often at the right place at the right time. When working as a logger, the captain’s son falls and almost gets trampled by horses. However, “the boy was saved from a mutilated death by the lucky presence of Grainier himself, who […] hauled the boy out of the way by the leg of his pants” (20).