Mantrap (novel)

Mantrap

First edition cover
Author	Sinclair Lewis
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Fiction
Publisher	Harcourt, Brace & Company
Publication date	June 3, 1926
Media type	Hardcover
Pages	307
Preceded by	Arrowsmith
Followed by	Elmer Gantry

Mantrap is a 1926 novel by Sinclair Lewis. One of Lewis' two unsuccessful novels of the 1920s, the other being The Man Who Knew Coolidge. Mantrap is the story of New York lawyer Ralph Prescott's journey into the wilds of Saskatchewan, and of his adventures there. The novel spawned two separate film adaptations, Mantrap (1926), and Untamed (1940).

The novel was dedicated to American broadcaster and journalist Frazier Hunt, a friend of Lewis.

Ralph Prescott, a lawyer with the New York City firm of Beasley, Prescott, Braun and Braun, is feeling the stress and strain of the demands placed on him by city and career. With a fellow club-member, E. Wesson Woodbury, he decides to travel west into the Canadian wilderness for a vacation of fishing and canoeing. Woodbury has made the arrangements, and all that Prescott need do is show up.

Travelling by train through Winnipeg, the duo make their way to the Flambeau River, then to the former logging town of Whitewater. Although Prescott impresses his travelling companion with his handling of a surly innkeeper, the two are already finding themselves to be incompatible. Woodbury chides Prescott over his decision, for example, to carry a pillow in his gear.

Taking the steamer Emily C. Just upriver to their departure point, Prescott and Woodbury finally set out with their native guides / canoe men, but tensions between them grow and tempers fray. After several misadventures in both canoeing and camping, they are openly hostile to one another. It is at this point that they encounter Joe Easter, of the Easter Trading Company. Ralph elects to abandon Woodbury and accept Easter's invitation to stay with him at his place further up the Mantrap River, at the small trading post of Mantrap Landing. Easter and Prescott travel with Lawrence Jackfish, Easter's native factotum, and upon arriving meet McGavity, Easter's dour Scottish competitor in trade, and Easter's wife, Alverna, a former manicurist from the Hotel Ranleagh in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who Easter met while in town and married the next day.

In the ensuing days, Alverna's discontent with the limited social sphere of Mantrap Landing in general, and with Joe Easter in particular, becomes apparent. While tensions are on the rise with the indigenous Cree tribes who also inhabit the area, due to a suspension of their credit with the trading posts, tensions also grow with the introduction of Ralph Prescott to the local social dynamic. Prescott has little experience of women and is a bachelor, and soon he falls for Alverna's charms, but is simultaneously repulsed by the thought of betraying Joe Easter, whom he considers a friend. On reflection, Prescott also feels guilty at abandonning E. Wesson Woodbury, and is several times on the verge of deciding to depart to find him. Finally, after a meeting with the Cree at which the traders make their case for having their bills paid in order to restore the Cree's credit, only to be met with derision, Prescott leaves Mantrap Landing. Lawrence Jackfish pilots him, but they do not get far before Alverna catches up to the canoe and demands that Prescott take her with him. Suffering with a mixture of misgivings over betraying Joe Easter and his inconstant love for Alverna, Prescott agrees.