"West" is a short story by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

. It appears in his short story collection The Folk of the Fringe

The Folk of the Fringe

The Folk of the Fringe is a collection of post-apocalyptic stories by American writer Orson Scott Card. These stories are set sometime in the near future, when World War III has left America in ruins. The stories are about how a few groups of Mormons struggle to survive...

. Card originally published a shorter version of this story in the short story collection Free Lancers: Alien Stars IV (1987).

Plot summary

In a post-apocalyptic

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction

Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...

 America Jamie Teague is traveling from the east coast to his home in the Great Smoky Mountains

Great Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...

. Along the way he comes across a group of people traveling on the highway and headed straight for a group of Bushwhackers

Bushwhacker

Bushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare common during the American Revolutionary War, American Civil War and other conflicts in which there are large areas of contested land and few Governmental Resources to control these tracts...

 that kills anyone who tries to pass. After warning them Jamie starts to follow them and when the Winston highway patrol refuses to let them take an alternate route he decides to help them get past the Bushwhackers. As they travel together Jamie finds out that the people are Mormons

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

 and that they are headed for Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 to avoid being massacred. Knowing that they will die without his help he agrees to take them as far as his cabin. He also agrees to let them stay with him during the winter. In the spring Jamie tells the group about how when he was a child his mother made him keep his younger brother and sister locked in a closet until they went insane. After making this confession Jamie gets baptized

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

 as a Mormon and decides to lead the group to Utah. When they finally arrive in Utah they all settle down into their own homes but remain close friends.

Connection to the other stories

During the trip from Jamie Teague’s home in the Great Smoky Mountains to Utah the group finds a little mute

Muteness

Muteness or mutism is an inability to speak caused by a speech disorder. The term originates from the Latin word mutus, meaning "silent".-Causes:...

 boy whose parents had been killed by mobbers. They take him along with them and he is placed in foster care

Foster care

Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....

 when they reach Utah. The short story "Salvage

Salvage (short story)

"Salvage" is a short story by Orson Scott Card. It appears in his short story collection The Folk of the Fringe. Card originally published this story in the February 1986 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine...

" by Orson Scott Card takes place about fifteen years after the events in "West". The little mute boy has grown up and been named Deaver Teague after Jamie Teague and Brother Deaver. In this story Deaver is a young man who goes diving in a Mormon temple to try and find hidden gold. Deaver is also the main character of the story "Pageant Wagon

Pageant Wagon (short story)

"Pageant Wagon" is a short story by Orson Scott Card. It’s first and only appearance is in his short story collection The Folk of the Fringe .-Plot summary:...

". It takes place when he is in his late twenties and is the story of how he meets up with and joins a group of traveling actors. At the end of "West" Deaver Teague and his group meets with Sam Monson, the governor of Deseret

Deseret

Deseret is a term derived from the Book of Mormon, a scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Latter Day Saint groups...

. In the story "America

America (short story)

"America" is a short story by Orson Scott Card. It appears in his short story collection The Folk of the Fringe. Card originally published this story in the January 1987 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.-Plot summary:...

" Sam met and had a baby with a Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 woman when he was a teenager.

Influences

As with many of Card's other literature, a Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

/Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

influence is present in this story.

Travelers

• Jamie Teague
• Tina Monk
• Brother Herman Deaver - high priest
• Peter Cinn - father
• Annalee Cinn - mother
• Nat Cinn - son
• Donna Cinn - daughter
• Rona Harrison - from the Bennett Ward
• Marie Speaks - from the Bennett Ward
• Mick Porter - orphan
• Scotty Porter - orphan
• Valerie Letterman - orphan
• Cheri Ann Bee - orphan

Other characters

• Winston highway patrol - unnamed
• bushwhackers at the 421 crossover - unnamed
• Zack - highway mobber
• long-bearded man - highway mobber - unnamed
• Mr. Bicker - Jamie’s neighbor
• Jamie’s other neighbors - unnamed
• little mute boy - name unknown
• outriders from Utah - unnamed
• Sam Monson - governor

External links

• The official Orson Scott Card website