40 pages • 1 hour read
Jim HarrisonLegends of the Fall
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1979A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Beta“The Man Who Gave Up His Name,” Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
“The Man Who Gave Up His Name,” Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: The source material contains descriptions of drug use. In addition, the source material utilizes offensive stereotypes of Indigenous Americans. Characters are also frequently referred to by their ethnicity. These terms are replicated in the guide only in direct quotes from the source material.
Nordstrom, the protagonist, has started dancing alone in his house after dinner. He flashes back to how dancing first became part of his life. He had signed up for a modern dance class in college to fulfill a requirement. He is the only male in the class and spends the semester unable to dance due to embarrassment. He becomes infatuated with a girl in the class named Laura. For his final exam, the teacher blindfolds him and orders him to dance in response to Laura’s dance. Afterward, the teacher hugs him and gives him an A in the class. He sees Laura much later, and they begin dating and eventually marrying. They move from Wisconsin to California. Laura gets a movie industry job, and he gets a job in the oil industry. They have a daughter, Sonia, and are both successful in their careers. Life continues this way until Nordstrom is 37 years old.
One night at dinner, Sonia calls Nordstrom and Laura "cold fish," and he takes this to heart. He decides to change his life. Among other things, he buys a sailboat, plays tennis, skis in Aspen, and is nearly bitten by a rattlesnake while quail hunting, an adventure that thrills him for a while. He changes his hair, buys a ring, smokes a joint with his daughter, sleeps with his secretary, buys a sports car that he doesn't run, and takes up cooking. He resigns from his oil industry job and works as a vice president for a book wholesaler. He broods about the men Laura is sleeping with—she has lovers and is open about it. One evening, they get drunk and Laura dances to the song from their dance class. They have sex both knowing that their marriage is over.
Three months later, Sonia leaves for college and, that same day, the couple files divorce papers. They split amicably, and he moves to Boston to be closer to his daughter. She stays with him during the summer while she attends Harvard summer school. Nordstrom goes to a delicatessen every morning for breakfast, and one day he stands in for a sick line cook, calling in sick to his job. He is lonely for the three years he is in Boston.
“The Man Who Gave Up His Name,” Chapter 2 Summary
Nordstrom is now 43 years old. For August, he rents a house in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Sonia's friends come and go all month and because Nordstrom cooks for them, but otherwise does not socialize, they think he is the cook. This does not bother him, but it annoys Sonia, and so he joins them for dinner one night. That night, everyone leaves except for a girl who has gotten sunburned and stayed. She and Nordstrom smoke a joint, have sex, listen to records, and finally pass out.
In October, Nordstrom’s mother calls to tell him that his father has died. He returns to Wisconsin for the funeral. Upon seeing his father's body, he goes into the woods and gets lost. He ends up at a tavern where he sees Henry, the man who was with his father when he died. Henry gives Nordstrom a message from his father: good luck and I love you. Nordstrom flies back to New York with Sonia, who also came for the funeral.
“The Man Who Gave Up His Name,” Chapters 1-2 Analysis
Nordstrom’s story is typical: get married, get a job, have children, and work towards financial security. Also typical is his response to his daughter’s declaration: he has a midlife crisis. Because we are in Nordstrom’s thoughts, however, we understand that these actions are actually a reaching for something, a recognition that his life is not what he wants it to be, and an effort to reshape it. At first, his efforts fall along typical lines such as a sports car and an affair. But at a certain point, Nordstrom seems to realize this is not true change. When his father dies, he realizes that life is lived day by day, and the way one chooses to spend one’s time is, in fact, the life one leads.
The reader is also given insight into the things Nordstrom will eventually frame his life around: cooking, dancing, and nature. At this point, however, Nordstrom seems oblivious to these interests. When he takes a shift as a line cook, it is an impulsive move, and he does not think about from where the impulse came. But this impulse will be revived again when he hosts Sonia and her friends in Marblehead and spends so much time in the kitchen that her friends think he is the cook. Nordstrom’s interactions with Henry, in the present and childhood, give him a deep interest in the natural world that will shape his future.
