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In 1922, a man's pride was a man's land. And so was his son
~ Wilfred James's most famous quote.

Wilfred James is the main villainous protagonist of the Stephen King’s horror novella 1922, as well as the 2017 film adaptation of the same name.

He is a greedy farmer who kills his wife for her land, but ultimately loses everything.

He was portrayed in the film by Thomas Jane.

History[]

Wilfred James, or Wilf, owned a farm of 100 acres in Hemingford Home, Nebraska, that’s been in his family for generations. His wife, Arlette, has recently inherited 80 acres of adjoining land from her father. Wilf is content with their farm life, as is their son, Henry. But Arlette is unhappy, and plans to sell her land to the Farrington Livestock Company, which would make Wilf's land non-farmable, in order to move to Omaha and open a dress shop.

After an argument with Arlette on what to do regarding their land, she suggests they sell both parcels, split the money, and divorce, with her taking Henry. Wilf, who believes that "a man's pride was his land, and his son", is pushed into plotting to murder her, with the assistance of Henry. He uses Henry's blossoming relationship with neighboring girl Shannon Cotterie as a reason to convince him to assist in the murder, as if Henry were forced to move to Omaha, he would be taken away from her. Henry, already uneasy with the thought of becoming a city boy, agrees.

Wilf pretends to agree to the sale, appeasing Arlette enough to get her drunk in celebration. After she insults Shannon, Henry is angered into committing to the plot (still making sure that they would "send her to Heaven"). Henry holds down Arlette with a pillow, and Wilf messily slits her throat. They hide her body in a well on the farm, and clean up the house to erase any traces of blood.

The next day, Wilf packs Arlette's suitcase with some clothes, pants, and jewelry. Opening the well, he finds rats chewing on Arlette's body. Disgusted, he throws the suitcase into the well to scare them off. He is visited by one of Farrington's lawyers, Andrew Lester. Lester is suspicious of Wilf, as he is looking for Arlette, and has Hemingford Home's sheriff Jones search the house. Wilf fills in the well with a euthanized cow, and begins filling it when Jones arrives.

During summer, Henry becomes distant and brooding, regretting the crime he and his father committed together. Shannon is discovered to be pregnant, and is sent to a Catholic orphanage until she has the baby and gives it up for adoption. Despite Wilf's warnings, Henry steals his truck and helps Shannon escape the orphanage. They become robbers, wanted in several states, but, after their car breaks down, Shannon (who was shot during a robbery) dies from blood loss. Despondent, Henry kills himself, as is chewed upon by rats.

In Henry's absence, Wilf becomes emotionally destitute and alcoholic. During the winter, he takes out a mortgage to rebuild his slowly crumbling house, but never does any of the work. One night, while searching Arlette's closet, his hand is bitten by a rat, becoming severely infected. Unable to go to a hospital due to the harsh weather, Wilf is forced to stay at his house. He is visited by Arlette's living corpse, who gives him a premonition of Henry and Shannon's deaths. Although Wilf begs for death, the corpse denies it, letting him live with the consequences of his actions.

Soon afterwards, he is found delirious by Sheriff Jones, who brings him to the hospital. After his hand is amputated, Jones reveals that, based on what Wilf told him, Arlette was found dead on the side of the road, raped, robbed, and murdered. Wilf receives Henry's chewed corpse, and attends his small funeral, with Arlette's corpse and a group of surrounding rats watching. Wilf tries to sell his land to Harlan Cotterie, Shannon's father and Wilf's former friend, who laughs, lamenting their loses (both their children dead, their wives gone, but Harlan still has both hands). He bluntly tells Wilf to get off his property, and to never come back.

Disgraced, Wilf is forced to sell the land to the Farrington company for a pittance. He moves to Omaha, the city he always despised, and finds work hauling pallets in a factory and as a librarian (novel only). However, Wilf notices the rats continuing to follow him. In 1930, eight years after his ordeal, he purchases a pistol and goes to a hotel to write his confession. However, he misplaces his gun, and the rats eat him alive. He is found dead the next morning, with his papers chewed to pieces and seemingly self-inflicted rat bites, implying that his account for the events in 1922 were fictional.

In the film, Wilf meets his comeuppance differently. After finishing his confession, his hotel room is swarmed by rats, and he is confronted by the apparitions of Shannon, Arlette, and Henry. Henry's apparition pulls out a knife, and tells him that his death will be quick. Wilf only looks on in sadness and regret as the film ends, with him saying "In the end, we all get caught", leaving the viewer to assume whether Wilf was crazy and that he actually killed himself, or if the apparitions were real all along, and that they killed him.

Personality[]

Wilf is greedy, sneaky, impulsive, but intelligent to a degree, managing to fool the sheriff into believing his story about Arlette's disappearance. He is manipulative, as he persuades his son to help him in the murder. However, despite all that, Wilf does have a somewhat friendly personality to all of his other associates, including Lars Olsen, the Hemingford Trust banker, and the Cotterie family. Wilf does have a sense of humility and regret regarding what he did, and expresses disgust at himself, stating that he deserved what he got. Wilf did love Henry, becoming depressed and alcoholic after Henry abandoned him, and kissing him on the forehead one last time before he is put in a coffin, and in the film's final scenes, it’s implied that Wilf wished his son could forgive him, showing a sad sense of love and remorse for ruining Henry's life.

Trivia[]

  • Wilfred telling the story of his side of Henry is likely not accurate, as he isn’t fully aware of the crime mischiefs Henry has been accused of.

Navigation[]

           Kingster KingVillain

Novels/Novellas
Carrie: Carrie White | Mortimer Snerds (Chris Hargensen, Donna and Mary Lila Grace Thibodeau, Helen Shyres, Heather Shyres & Tina Blake) | Margaret White | Billy Nolan | Ralph White
Salem's Lot: Kurt Barlow | Richard Straker | Marsten House
The Shining: Overlook Hotel | Jack Torrance | Hotel Caretaker | Grady Sisters | Lorraine Massey
Children of the Corn: Children of the Corn (Isaac Chroner & Malachai Boardman) | He Who Walks Behind the Rows
Rage: Charlie Decker | Mr. Decker
The Stand: Randall Flagg | Barry Dorgan | Bobby Terry | Harold Lauder | Julie Lawry | Lloyd Henreid | Nadine Cross | The Kid | The Rat Man | Trashcan Man | Whitney Horgan
The Long Walk: The Major | Gary Barkovitch
The Dead Zone: Greg Stillson | Frank Dodd
The Mist: Adrian Garff Mrs. Carmody | The Mist
Firestarter: Captain Hollister | Doctor Herman Pynchot | John Rainbird
Roadwork: Barton George Dawes | Sal Magliore
Cujo: Cujo | Joe Camber | Stephen Kemp
The Running Man: Damon Killian | United States of America
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: Samuel Norton | Byron Hadley | Sisters (Bogs Diamond) | Elmo Blatch
Apt Pupil: Kurt Dussander | Todd Bowden
The Body: The Cobras (John "Ace" Merrill, Richard "Eyeball" Chambers, Billy Tessio, Charlie Hogan, Vince Desjardins, Jack Mudgett & Norman "Fuzzy" Bracowicz)
Christine: Arnie Cunningham | Christine | Repperton Gang | Roland D. LeBay
Pet Sematary: Wendigo | Church | Gage Creed | Rachel Creed | Timmy Baterman
Cycle of the Werewolf: Lester Lowe
The Tailsman: Morgan Sloat
Thinner: Billy Halleck | Tadzu Lempke | Cary Rossington | Duncan Hopley | Gabe Romani | Gina Lempke | Richie Ginelli
Dolan's Cadillac: Jimmy Dolan
It: It | Bowers Gang (Belch Huggins, Henry Bowers, Marcia Fadden, Patrick Hockstetter, Peter Gordon & Vic Criss) | Alvin Marsh | Butch Bowers | Richard Macklin | Tom Rogan | Christopher Unwin | Webby Garton
Misery: Annie Wilkes
The Tommyknockers: Tommyknockers | Nancy Voss
The Dark Half: George Stark
Secret Window, Secret Garden: John Shooter
The Langoliers: Craig Toomey | Langoliers | Roger Toomey
Needful Things: Leland Gaunt | John "Ace" Merrill | Danforth Keeton III | Brian Rusk | Wilma Jerzyck | Nettie Cobb | Hugh Preist | Father Brigham (Father Meehan) | Reverend Rose
Gerald's Game: Gerald Burlingame | Moonlight Man | Tom Mahout
Dolores Claiborne: Joe St. George
Insomnia: Atropos | Crimson King
Rose Madder: Norman Daniels
The Green Mile: William Wharton | Percy Wetmore
Desperation: Tak | Sheriff Collie Entragian
The Regulators: Tak
Bag of Bones: Max Devore | Sara Tidwell | Roggete Whitmore
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: God of the Lost
Dreamcatcher: Byrus | Mr. Gray
Black House: Charles Burnside | The Crow Gorg | Mr. Munshun
From a Buick 8: The Buick
Cell: Phone Crazies | Raggedy Man
Lisey's Story: Andrew Landon | Jim Dooley | Long Boy
The Gingerbread Girl: Jim Pickering
Duma Key: Perse | Undead Victims
Under the Dome: Jim Rennie | Junior Rennie | Phil Bushey | Leatherheads
1922: Wilfred James | Henry James | Shannon Cotterie
Big Driver: Lester Norville | Ramona Norville
A Good Marriage: Robert Bob Anderson
11/22/63: Lee Harvey Oswald | Frank Dunning
In The Tall Grass: Ross Humboldt | Cal Demuth
Doctor Sleep: The True Knot (Rose the Hat, Crow Daddy, Grandpa Flick, Barry the Chink & Snakebite Andi) | Andy Hallorann
Bill Hodges Trilogy: Brady Hartsfield | Morris Bellamy
Gwendy's Button Box: Richard Farris
The Outsider: The Outsider
Fairy Tale: Gogmagog | Elden | Petra | Kellin | Hana | Red Molly | Peterkin | Christopher Polley

Short Stories
Cain Rose Up: Curt Garrish
The Mangler: Bill Gartley | The Mangler
The Boogeyman: The Boogeyman
Trucks: Westway Refrigerated Truck | Bulldozer
The Ledge: Cressner
Jerusalem's Lot: Philip Boone | James Boon | The Worm
Quitter's Inc.: Mr. Donatti | Quitters Inc.
The Crate: Crate Beast
Crouch End: The Children | The Goat with a Thousand Young
The Monkey: The Monkey
The Raft: Lake Blob
Word Processor of the Gods: Richard Hagstrom | Roger Hagstrom
Gramma: Gramma Bruckner
The Night Flier: Dwight Renfield
Low Men in Yellow Coats: Harry Doolin
Blind Willie: Raymond Fiegler
Why We're In Vietnam: Ronnie Malenfant
Lunch at the Gotham Café: Guy

Films
The Shining: Overlook Hotel (Lloyd, Lorraine Massey & Hotel Caretaker) | Jack Torrance
Creepshow: Creepshow Creep | Crate Beast | Nathan Grantham | Richard Vickers | Upson Pratt | Wilma Northrup
Cat's Eye: Cressner | Mr. Donatti | Quitters Inc. | Troll
Maximum Overdrive: Bubba Hendershot | Camp Loman | Happy Toyz Truck | Ice Cream Truck | M274 Mule | Vending Machine
A Return to Salem`s Lot: Judge Axle
Creepshow 2: Creepshow Creep | Creepshow Bullies | Lake Blob | Sam Whitemoon | The HitchHiker
Sleepwalkers: Charles Brady | Mary Brady | Sleepwalkers
Pet Sematary 2: Gus Gilbert | Renee Hallow | Clyde Parker | Zowie
The Mangler Trilogy: Bill Gartley | The Mangler | Lin Sue | The Mangler Virus
The Rage: Carrie 2: Rachel Lang | Mark Bing
Creepshow 3: Creepshow Creep | Rachel
The Dark Tower: Randall Flagg
It: Part One: It | Bowers Gang (Henry Bowers, Vic Criss | Belch Huggins & Patrick Hockstetter)
Pet Sematary (2019): Ellie Creed
It: Part Two: It | Henry Bowers | Tom Rogan
Doctor Sleep: The True Knot (Rose the Hat, Crow Daddy, Grandpa Flick, Barry the Chink & Snakebite Andi) | Overlook Hotel (Jack Torrance, Hotel Caretaker & Lorraine Massey)
The Boogeyman: Boogeyman

TV Series
The Stand: Randall Flagg | Harold Lauder | Julie Lawry | Nadine Cross | The Rat Woman | Trashcan Man
The Shining: Overlook Hotel | Jack Torrance | Hotel Caretaker | Lorraine Massey
Storm of the Century: André Linoge
Rose Red: Professor Joyce Reardon | Ellen Rimbauer
Under the Dome: Big Jim Rennie | Junior Rennie | Phil Bushey | The Kinship (Christine Price & Dawn Sinclair-Barbara)

Other
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: Ellen Rimbauer

See Also
The Dark Tower Villains

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