One overarching theme of ‘s W. O. Mitchell’s Who Has Seen the Wind (1947) is the incongruity between the wild and the domesticated. While this heterogeneity is often represented physically – Mitchell goes to great lengths to describe the vastness of the Saskatchewan prairie – it also manifests as a series of personality conflicts between adult characters. Although protagonist Brian self-assigns the role of mediator upon aspiring to become a ‘dirt doctor,’ he is not the first to desire placation.
Rather, is it excommunicated Mr. John Hislop who serves as the first unsuccessful intermediary between the town and what lies beyond it. Forced to appease his unsympathetic parish while nurturing an existential identity crisis, it is Hislop’s inability to truly identify with either side that obliges this role. W. O. Mitchell first hints at Hislop’s incongruity with his community by allotting him the ironic role of the outsider. Although sarcastically narrated as the “herder of God’s Presbyterian sheep,” Hislop lacks followers.
While such isolation may be due to his foreign upbringing – he remembers his missionary “in the Peace River country” (57) rather fondly for its wilderness – Hislop is presently a well-adjusted member of the town. Ironically, however, the pastor has fewer bonds within the community than those scorned by Mrs. Abercrombie, the novel’s industrial archetype: the Ben is offered redemption through relocation numerous times throughout Who Has seen the Wind and even Romona, the town beggar, survived on the generosity of her fellow community members.
One of the most striking ways in which Hislop diverges from the other derelicts in the novel is that his decision to leave the township is less organic. Indeed, it is mentioned by Hislop that the destitute woman left on her own accord; while the Ben was eventually sent to prison, the still explosion that lead to his previous extradition of the town was due to his own negligence. In contrast, the pastor’s letter of dismissal comes to him as a complete surprise.
Even Hislop’s ‘trial’ at the council of elders is contradistinctive to the Ben’s: while the pastor is unsympathetically rejected by his almost all his peers, the countryman’s bid farewell is a “damn shame” (277). Evidently, Hislop’s isolation distinguishes him. ‘Domesticated’ due to the nature of his occupation though heterogeneous with his township, the pastor’s segregation denotes his intended role in the novel. Despite this, it is emotional separation from the disputing sides is what allows a mediator to be successful; W. O. Mitchell therefore designates Hislop as a precursory failure to Brian by overwhelming his character with existential and religious crises.
As a man of God, is it assumed that John Hislop frequently associated with the etherial. While Who Has Seen The Wind is wrought with similarly questioning characters, Hislop is unique as he does not only question his own obligations to his world but the obligations of humanity in general. True to his mediatory nature, Hislop mentions that he is able to “[separate] himself from the phenomena of his experience:” (29) he views himself as both within and without both of the town’s realms.
However, the pastor often crumples under the moral responsibility such thinking requires and chooses to reject his reality completely. One of Hislop’s fist scenes in the novel is an example of this. Stressed about whenever or not to mow his law to appease Mrs. Abercrombie, Hislop is so tormented by the insignificant influence that one patch of grass has on the town as a whole and whenever or not it truly is “unpleasant in the sight of the Lord” (29) that he abandons his pursuit for later contemplation.
While such a rejection emphasizes his failure of duty, Hislop’s struggles are significant in other ways: the pressure under which he folds is usually that of determining how wild it is acceptable for one to be among the modernized. During his conversation with Digby, the pastor attempts to connect the uncivilized with the civil by explaining to the teacher that “they,” alluding to the the wilder, less-developed mankind of history, “were no different than men today… in the field of moral values” (34).
Although such thinking might seem oddly Darwinian for a pastor, Hislop takes great care in connecting his insecurities back to God. Indeed, the few arguments that he successfully resolves are those which in which he finds peace by assuming God’s love transcends human hate. As a theme that carries throughout the novel, maintaining a connection to one’s spirituality in times of distress is not a not necessarily a weakness of Hislop’s character; rather, it is the most natural way for W. O. Mitchell to connect the adult mediator to the coming-of-age Brian.
One of Brian’s most important developments in his journey to adulthood is his understanding of God and eventual coming to terms with his faith. A key theme of the novel – the argument could be made that W. O. Mitchell intended the titled Wind to represent His omnisciency – it is significant that Hislop is the character that offers Brian a more grounded interpretation of Christianity.
Although Hislop might seem to Brian’s as the most natural choice of confidant, W. O. Mitchell ensures that the audience understands the difficulty of the meeting by both having Forbsie be the catalyst and testing Brian’s patience with the extended toast scene. [why is it Hislop that is important] [talking about bonding over first convo] [ty together similar feelings about being excluded and what this means for mediation] [tie together similar aspects of the wilderness and the “feeling”] [explain why Brian as a dirt doctor is mediatory] [compare his sense of mediatory to Hislop’s’] [u did it bb] Although an ultimately unsuccessful character, John Hislop was carefully crafted by W. O. Mitchell to represent a mediatory figure in Who Has Seen The Wind’s struggle between the wilderness of the prairie and the domestic nature of township.
Both physically and emotionally isolated from his followers, Hislop fails where Brian is implied to succeed. His role as a pastor struggling with both religious and existential crises connects their spiritualities; it is through Hislop that Brian connects to God and begins to realize his adulthood duty. Representing the main themes of Who Has Seen the Wind, Hislop is truly a valuable character alongside whom the reader can explore the conflict of domesticity and wilderness.
