Nov 11 2008
Laura Pritts in The Daybreakers by Louis L’amour
Should Laura Pritts have her own article? Is her character strong enough? Obviously I think so. Louis L’amour thought so as well. She makes appearances, brief as they are, throughout the Sackett saga.
In her own way Laura Pritts is a driving force of the action in The Daybreakers. Though her father is the primary antagonist, she creates the internal conflict within Orrin and by extension the conflict between Orrin and Tyrel. She also has a great influence on the conflict between Tom Sunday and the Sackett brothers. Without her it is likely that her father would not have had the ability to keep Orrin, and by extension Tyrel, in check for so long.
In many ways she is also one of the most rounded female characters in L’amour’s writing. She has all of the appearances of being a desirable woman to begin with. I cannot disregard Orrin’s sense of judgment enough to think that he would simply fall for a pretty face if there were not other redeeming qualities about her. But the fact that she would be evil enough to plot her own husband’s death is enough to peak my interest. Rather than being another pretty figurehead for the hero to win at the end of the story she is a breath of fresh, albeit very mean and selfish, air.
