Literature > Wine on the Desert By Max Brand

I. Summary

The story took place in the Apache Desert in Arizona. Durante, one of the main characters, killed somebody, and the sheriff and his group was after him. Durante went to Tony’s house; the only place in that part of the desert with water. He was riding a mule and he was very thirsty because he hasn’t had water for a long time and it was a rainless, very dry season. Tony was very happy to see Durante, they were good old friends. Tony cooked and served wine to his guest. They talked about how the desert killed Tony’s father and we learned from the story that Tony lived under relatively good circumstances. After a good rabbit breakfast Durante told Tony that he did something and the sheriff was after him and he had to do something very bad. He told Tony that he didn’t want the sheriff to find any water at his place, so he could not load up with water and he could not follow him. Durante shut holes on all the tanks and all the water leaked out. Tony was very sad because he thought about his vineyard, that it would die. Durante left Tony’s place on his mule and was headed to the mountains where he would be cool and safe from the sheriff. He had a 24 hour trip ahead of him until he would reach the mountains and it was very hot and dry. He got very thirsty and took the first sip out of his canteen since he left Tony’s house. Durante realized that instead of water Tony gave him wine. He knew he would not make it to the mountains without water. He’s mule died and eventually he went mad and got blind. The rain started to fall and the vultures were waiting for his death.

II. Write out 5 words, phrases, or sentences where thirst, or heat are effectively depicted.

1.“For the air of the hollow, unstirred by wind, was hot and still as a bowl of soup-a reddish soup.” (Brand)
2.“Out of his dusty throat the cry was a mere groaning.” (Brand)
3.“And the sun comes and cooks your bare skin.” (Brand)
4.“The sun turned the sweat of Durante to hot water and then dried his skin so that his clothes felt transparent.” (Brand)
5.“His tongue hung out like a little red rag from the side of his mouth, and suddenly Durante was dry to the marrow.” (Brand)

III. What aspect of the story did you find most effective and why? The plot? The characters? The setting? Is there a “theme” here?

In this story the setting is the most effective, because the desert is a very powerful geographical surrounding. The desert is huge, very hot and dry, people have to travel long distances, people are isolated and it has adverse circumstances which can take people’s lives. The story takes place in the desert and the writer describes how hot and dry the desert is. Everything is quite, slow, nobody is rushing anywhere, not even Durante who is escaping the sheriff. He has a whole day head start. The writer describes the heat and the thirsts many times and the reader can have a strong sense what life is in the desert.

The plot is also effective because the story is based on two people’s actions. The fact that Durante “kills” the vineyard and at the end the wine kills him is very important.
The characters are not very effective; the writer barely describes Tony, who has one wood leg and brown face. We get the sense that Tony is a good man who likes to cook, warmly greets his friend, like to take care of the vineyard. The writer doesn’t describe Durante directly, but we get the feeling from his actions that he is a mean person, who is selfish and takes advantage of people.

The story has an effective theme too. The story describes how people behave and make mistakes just to escape from the consequences. Durante killed a man and he is escaping from the sheriff. He thinks that the only way to escape is if he makes all the water disappear, so the sheriff wouldn’t be able to follow him. In the desert, water is very valuable, it’s necessary for survival and he wastes all of it. He doesn’t care about his good old friend and his vineyard. He is very selfish because the only thing he cares about is to save himself.
Before Durante left Tony’s place he called Tony a coward, that he doesn’t have the courage to fight against all the things he did to him and he pities him for that. He didn’t know that Tony already handed him the poison that will take his life. Tony had no other option but to be silent about his emotion, he knew he could not win a fight with his wood leg against Durante who had a gun.