Nov 07 2008
Plot Development in The Daybreakers by Louis L’amour
The Daybreakers is not a story rich with intrigue or plot twists. The 1979 movie The Sacketts which is based on the book develops some aspects of the plot a bit more. By and large, however, even that story keeps it to essentially a history.
Tyrel and Orrin are presented as protagonists early on, and Johnathan Pritts and his daughter are clearly antagonists the moment they step onto the stage. The reader is not surprised to find that Mr. Pritts has begun nefarious activities or even to discover that his daughter has gone so far as to plot the murder of her husband Orrin.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the plot is the ultimate confrontation between Tyrel and Tom Sunday. In many ways this is the most engaging emotional aspect of the book, but even this climax is easily foreseen. The animosity between Tom Sunday and the Sackett brothers is built for many chapters before finally finding release, and the question of which Sackett will face Mr. Sunday is essentially answered in the first sentence of the book when we find that Tyrel is telling the story and not Orrin.
