In West Mills

Many of the relationships depicted in the novel are marked by a tension between accepting another person as she or he is and desiring to help that person do or become something different. Winslow explores these tensions by examining the thoughts and motivations of Knot and Otis Lee, a hallmark technique of psychological realism. Early on, Otis Lee reflects on his efforts to guide Knot to make choices that he perceives as desirable: “Try to steer somebody from a harm they love, but seem like the more they get steered away, the more they want the harm” (29). Out of concern for Knot, he tries to get her to marry Pratt, to keep her children, and to give up drinking, with no success.

Viewing these events from his perspective allows readers to witness the sincerity of his motives, as when he finds himself unable to move due to surprise and happiness when, for a moment, he thinks that Knot is going to keep her second baby. Switching to Knot’s perspective reveals that she is no less sincere in her choices that deviate from what Otis Lee would have her do. After giving her daughter away for adoption over Otis Lee’s objections, she comes to feel that it “was the most grown-person thing she’d ever done” (87).