The Crazy Man
First edition
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| Author | Pamela Porter |
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| Cover artist | Karine Daisay (design) |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's Literature |
| Publisher | Groundwoods Books/House of Anansi Press (first edition) |
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Publication date
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2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 214 pp (first edition) |
The Crazy Man is a 2005 Canadian children's novel written by Pamela Porter. This realistic family novel told in free verse has received many awards and was selected for the Governor General’s Literary Award. The story is about a girl named Emaline who lives on a farm. Emaline's family falls apart after a terrible tractor accident. After chasing her beloved dog, Emaline's father accidentally runs over her leg with a tractor leaving her permanently disabled. Because of guilt, Emaline's father shoots her dog, Prince, and ends up leaving Emaline and her mother on their own. The narrative follows Emaline as she deals with prejudice, fear, her disability, and the absence of her father.
The Crazy Man is set in 1965 in Saskatchewan, Canada. Pamela Porter reinforces the harsh times by incorporating day-to-day life during the Vietnam War, Communism, and The Cold War. Financial times were tough.
The novel begins by introducing the protagonist Emaline, a twelve-year-old girl who, like other little girls, loves playing with friends and going to school. Emaline lives on a farm where she is involved in a terrible tractor accident. This accident happens while trying to save her dog, Prince from being run over by a tractor. Emaline succeeds in saving her dog but unfortunately her leg is caught in the tractor. Shortly after, Emaline's father, Cal decides to leave everything behind. This includes the family farm, his family, crippled child, and all responsibilities. To make matters worse, he shoots Prince the family dog. He does this as he blames himself for Emaline's tractor accident, and the fact that he was reluctantly forced into the family business of farming. Emaline's father blamed himself, but took it out on the dog.
Emaline can not understand why her loving father would do this to her and her mother. Throughout the novel, she continuously wonders why her father left and when her father would come back: "I think about dad. How in the world could someone just disappear?" As a result Emaline blames herself. The guilt Emaline feels about her father leaving consumes her thoughts.
Since Cal is no longer on the farm, there is no one left to seed the farm fields. During the spring time, Clarice, Emaline's mother has to find someone to seed the fields for them as farming is the only source of income for the family. Clarice cannot find anyone to seed their fields so she ends up hiring a big man called Angus who is a mental patient from the mental hospital. This infuriates the town, as they assume that this man will harm and terrorize them. A townsperson explains to others, "That man is from the mental, stay away from him." The townspeople purposely drive by Emaline's house to tease and laugh at "The Crazy Man" working in the farm fields. Frank, the town mechanic drives by daily and yells out, “I hear you have a sub-human out there”, and others would call Angus "The Gorilla." What the townspeople do not realize is that Angus is an extremely gentle and caring individual who would not hurt anyone or harm anything. In fact Angus is a very good farmer and great gardener. He treats everything he touches with respect. However, the townspeople can not see past his mental illness, and on many occasions they accuse him of stealing from the local grocery store, later to find out that all accusations are false.
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