Hoosiers, justice, change

The Gentleman From Indiana, written by Booth Tarkington, is a descriptive account of what Indiana was like one hundred years ago. Published by the Doubleday, Page & Company in 1899, Tarkington tells an autobiographical story about an editor named John Harkless, who turns a small town's dilapidated weekly paper into a political capital. Set in Central Indiana, in the heart of the lonesome flattands of Indiana, where the winters are bleak and the summers are hot and sticky, Tarkington's story provides readers with a historical tale full of Indiana culture.\nA Hoosier's politics is unequivocally the most important aspect of life, next to God. Tarkington mentions, "…a Hoosier will talk politics after he is dead." The politics of the small town of Plattvile are the catalyst for many of the trials Harkless faces. Harkless, is a priveleged college graduate from New England. The new blood excites the little town, and he becomes famous for his weekly editorials. His achievements make him an overnight sensation in a town plagued with outdated ideals. His talent creates friends and supporters among the rich and enemies, as well. \nInterestingly enough, Tarkington intentionally makes the reader believe Harkless is a black man in the beginning of the novel. He allows readers to believe this to strengthen key points in the novel. This is not surprising, considering it's a story about Indiana at the turn of the twentieth century. The race issue creates drama, but adds an effervescent reality of prejudice that exists in Indiana. \nPolitically, Indiana has had a history concerning racial politics dating back to the Negro Slave Act of 1793 up to the political cartoons published in the IDS in 2003. Harkless, a tall white man, was an outcast in Plattville because he wasn't a Hoosier, and his progressive ideas singled out the unjust and the ignorant. \nTarkington puts his protagonist in situations with the White-Caps (formally known as the KKK) of Six-Cross-Roads to reveal the attitude toward outsiders at that time. The White-Caps hold a grudge against the young editor, driving them to act out their hate. Harkless tested his own bravery by taking long walks at night while being taunted by the White Caps. \nTarkington shows the struggle between progress and fear by creating characters that protect Harkless foiling the antagonist of the novel.\nHow will the young editor overcome adversity and make the paper a success in Indiana? Only the reader knows. \nThe Gentleman from Indiana was a major success for Booth Tarkington. It was his first novel leading to many others making him America's most popular writer of his day. Although the book is autobiographical and includes love and triumph, it gives chilling accounts of what life was like in Indiana one hundred years ago.