The Blunderer of the Wasteland
Adam Larey, eighteen and innocent, is kissed by Margarita, a Mexican laborer's daughter, outside his cabin. Overwhelmed with shame, he weeps through the night and resolves she must marry him to make him an honest man. He finds her with his handsome, reckless brother Guerd Larey, and when he presses her to marry him she refuses in Spanish and English. Guerd mocks him and hurls a rock into his face. Enraged, Adam draws his gun, fires at Guerd, and flees into the desert believing he has killed him. Adam wanders the desert for two weeks, discovering he has been traveling in a circle. A simoom strips him to the bone, and the old prospector Dismukes finds his skeleton, reassembles him, feeds him, and outfits him with a burro. Adam spends eight years in the wilderness, growing strong and learning its lore, and takes the name Woncefell, the Wanderer, in memory of his night with Margarita. In Death Valley, Woncefell meets Magdalene Virey, who lives in a shack beneath a slope from which her husband Elliott nightly hurls boulders at the cabin, trying to kill her, because her daughter Ruth is not his child. Magdalene does not know who Ruth's real father is. Woncefell resolves to kill Elliott as he once killed Baldy McKue. That night Elliott triggers a landslide that sweeps away the cabin and both Vireys. As it passes, Magdalene hands Woncefell a photograph of Ruth, telling him with dying clairvoyance that he and Ruth will meet, before she and Elliott are buried in the rubble. Woncefell meets Ruth, who invites him to stay with her, but he flees, unwilling, since he still believes he must atone for his brother's death by surrendering to the sheriff and being hanged before he can claim her. He returns to Muchacho and asks his old friend Merrywell to lead him to Guerd's grave, only to learn that Guerd never died, since Adam's gun misfired seventeen years earlier. Merrywell tells him his suffering was needless, since Zane Grey, for whom Adam has been working, never lets his heroes truly suffer lasting harm.
By Christopher Ward · Genre: Satire, Adventure, Western · 12 chapters · 3,078 words
First lines
"_Buenas dias, señor! _"
The girl's liquid accents exactly fitted the dark, piquant, little face whence they had emerged. The slender grace of her slight form, the delicate arch of her instep, the shapely grace of her dainty ankle, all marked her as the child of a Mexican laborer, Margarita the Maid of Muchacho.
Similar titles
- Tourmalins Time Cheques by Thomas Anstey Guthrie
- The Friendly Call by O. Henry
- The Talking Horse by Thomas Anstey Guthrie
- Euphemia Clashthought by Max Beerbohm
- A Farewell Appearance by Thomas Anstey Guthrie
- The Rubes Honeymoon by Zane Grey
Genres
- Satire — The work relentlessly parodies adventure and Western fiction conventions through exaggerated melodrama, absurdist descriptions, and explicit metafictional commentary acknowledging literary genre constraints (the Zane Grey reference).
- Adventure — Follows a classical adventure narrative structure: transgression, wilderness exile, trials and personal transformation, and eventual return for redemption and reunion.
- Western — Set in Southwest desert frontier landscape featuring ranches, gun violence, sheriffs, and character archetypes typical of Western fiction, though treated through a parodic lens.
- Comedy — Absurdist humor dominates through grotesque physical transformations (skeletal disassembly and reconstruction), impossible zoological details, overwrought prose, and incongruous comedic timing.
Tags
Western · Parody · Satire · Melodrama · Desert · Death Valley · American West · Frontier fiction · Innocent youth · Guilt · Shame · Atonement
What this Textopian page supports
The Blunderer of the Wasteland is listed on Textopian as a short story by Christopher Ward, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Christopher Ward
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Satire, Adventure, Western, Comedy, Melodrama
- Length: 3,078 words
- Structure: 12 chapters, 71 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Blunderer of the Wasteland by Christopher Ward
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Contents
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- CHAPTER VIII
- CHAPTER IX
- CHAPTER X
- CHAPTER XI
- CHAPTER XII