Roughing It · Character

Brigham Young

The absolute monarch of Utah, whose Lion House holds some thirty wives and fifty children and whose displeasure travelers are warned not to invite.

supporting

Also known as Brigham, Brigham Young President

First appearance: roughing it

As a supporting figure in Roughing It, Brigham Young is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Receives the narrator and others in a state visit; mistakes the narrator for a child.

In the storyXIIIOpen this moment free

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In the narrator's two-day pass through Salt Lake City, Brigham Young looms less as a man than as a system: a republican form of government on the surface, an absolute monarchy underneath, with a harem of twenty or thirty wives comfortably housed in the Lion House. Around his name cluster the Gentile den's night stories of Destroying Angels, back-alley corpses, and heedless visitors who speak lightly of polygamy and are found waiting for the hearse by morning. He is the gravity well of the Utah chapters, the reason the narrator's reforming zeal meets its match.

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

This is the story's dramatic climax because it presents the ultimate psychological peak of fear and vulnerabil…

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In the story

Brigham Young appears across 7 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

XIII
Receives the narrator and others in a state visit; mistakes the narrator for a child.
XIV
Mormon leader who enforces the contracts, demonstrating his absolute authority over the subcontractors.
XV
Brigham Young is the central figure in Johnson's stories, depicted as overwhelmed by his many wives and children.
XVII
Implied as a central figure in the 'Mormon question' discussions, though not directly present.
The Birth of Nevada Territory
Mentioned as the leader of the Mormons, to whom the early settlers of Carson County owed allegiance.
Appendix A
Central figure in the appendix; described as rising from disciple to absolute monarch, governor of Utah, and self-proclaimed God.
Appendix B: The Mountain Meadows Massacre
Allegedly issued a 'revelation' commanding the massacre and later failed to report or condemn it.

Chapter companion notes

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See Brigham Young in XIII