The Worst Hard Time

The Worst Hard Time

by

Timothy Egan

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Worst Hard Time makes teaching easy.

Quanah “Sweet Smell” Parker Character Analysis

The son of Cynthia Parker and Chief Peta Nocona, a Comanche leader. He led the attack on the trading post “at Adobe Walls, just north of the Canadian River.” Egan describes Sweet Smell as “regal-looking and charismatic, with soft features that made him look almost feminine.” He later married seven women and founded a religion based on taking hallucinogens and going on “vision quests.”
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Quanah “Sweet Smell” Parker Character Timeline in The Worst Hard Time

The timeline below shows where the character Quanah “Sweet Smell” Parker appears in The Worst Hard Time. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: The Wanderer
Westward Expansion and the Settlement of the Southern Plains Theme Icon
Anglo Culture and Racism Theme Icon
Environmental Devastation and the Dust Bowl Theme Icon
...only to them. When the bison herds diminished, the Comanche “went after Anglo stock herds.” Quanah Parker and other Comanche leaders led the tribe in an attack on the trading post at... (full context)