Much of Larry Murtry’s work is an ongoing examination of the current Texas, both urban and rural .Much of the remaining works, such Lonesome Dove, is an attempt to understand the frontier past. Lonesome Dove is an epic story about a journey of two former Texas rangers who decided to move their cattle from Texas to Montana. Along their way, they encounter many problems and the jou4rney ends with numerous injuries. Therefore this paper aims to examine the story in the novel from the beginning of the journey up to the end.…
Stillman, Deanne. Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West. New York. First Mariner Books. 6 June 2008.…
One appeal of the outlaw hero is they appear eternally youthful. ‘The attractiveness of the outlaw hero’s childishness and propensity to whims, tantrums, and emotional decisions derived from America’s cult of childhood (378).” Children often are the catalyst in the outlaw hero stories and are often outlaw hero’s themselves. The outlaw hero is often immature and quick to react without thinking, much as a child would. The official hero on the other hand is portrayed much more maturely. They have “the best…
Horses and cowboys have, in many ways, changed the history of the West. “Horses are inextricably linked to the mythic cowboy within the national symbolic. More so even than the cow or the gun, the horse defines the cowboy’s status as sacred, special, and uniquely American” (Spurgeon, 89). Without what the Plain Indians called “sky dogs”, the west would not have been conquered. In fact, horses have played a major role in the evolution of civilization. From Alexander the Great conquering Macedonian horsemen, to Genghis Khan, to Napoleon, horses have always played an integral part of history. Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses is a coming of age story of John Grady Cole who dreams of the mythical west that we have all come to know and love. He himself is a modern recreation of the mythical horsemen that have circled the imagination of all young boys for centuries. John Grady was born a horseman and has the soul of a horseman. He has been “born to sit and ride a horse” (Lincoln, 102). Through the studying of the significance of the horse and its spirit, John Grady Cole, the main character in McCarthy’s novel, can be better understood and appreciated.…
(Robinson, Charles M.) The Wild West Magazine. “ The Men Who Wear the Star. (August 12,…
Urban Cowboy by Heidi Brown, 2004, Forbes 174, no. 9: 154-162, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, accessed October 31, 2008.…
The Unredeemed Captive- A Family Story From Early America, John Demos, Vintage Books, April 1995, New York…
The story of the buck by Joyce Carol Oates is about two interesting characters that are discovering things about themselves. I like the fact that the Melanie Snyder has realized her femininity. While on the other hand Wayne Kunz is very masculine and prideful of himself. We learn that Melanie femininity is concealed because of her finace.…
Crooks, known as “stable buck”, was an African American man who was racially segregated by most. The setting of the novel was told during the Great Depression, a time when racial discrimination was common. Because of the time period, Crooks faced prejudice treatment by the white workers and suffered the feeling of loneliness. This feature was shown when the favored men of the ranch…
To take the life of another man is considered to be a great sin, however when placed in a war setting, the inverse is true. When one thinks of a hero, they imagine a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. In the eyes of a country during war, these deeds and noble qualities relate directly to the amount of enemy kills a man acquires. War evokes the cruelty and immorality within a man and his country causing the definition of hero to be altered. Although upon their return, soldiers are placed on a pedestal, they are continuously reminded of the pain and suffering that they condemned their enemy to during combat. The novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, is a haunting tale of how different people cope with the horrors of war and how this diversity can drive them apart. The two main characters Elijah Weesageechack (Whiskeyjack) and Xavier Bird, young Cree Indian men, leave their home in the bush to defend their country’s honour. In this story, the reader is able to see how Elijah’s personality evolves from a respectful bush Indian who lives off the land, into a cold-blooded killer. As the novel progresses, it becomes evident to a great extent that the qualities which make Elijah heroic in the eyes of his country, are also the cause of his suffering and destruction. These qualities include his ability to kill, his need for inclusion by his peers, and his addiction to morphine. Had it not been for these qualities, Elijah might have been able to survive the war and remain true to himself maintaining his morals.…
Bibliography: Alexie, Sherman. "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." Gardner, Lawn, Ridl, Schakel. Literature (A Portable Anthology). Boston: Bedford St.Martins, 2013. 402-407. Print.…
The wild west was one of America 's most violent times.The American Wild West is a period of history rife with tales of vicious gunfights and battles between lawmen and outlaws. It is the story of exploration and forging a new way of life. Men, women and children left their homes in the East and headed West looking for land and riches. While Hollywood has tended to portray this historical era as one of harshness and violence, scholars have suggested recently that much of the violence in the Old West was more myth than fact. While violence might not have been commonplace, it definitely happened, sometimes explosively. From the gunfight at the O.K. Corral to one-on-one gunslinger showdowns, history reveals that this was a dangerous time.…
First published in 1924, Richard Connell 's "The Most Dangerous Game" is perhaps the finest example to date of the "hunter-becomes-the-hunted" tale. Connell, a combat veteran of World War I, began with a somewhat hackneyed plot line, but via excellent description, taut pacing, and crisp dialogue, the young writer produced a surprisingly enduring action-adventure story. Winner of the O 'Henry Memorial Award the year it was published, the tale remains a staple of anthologies of American short fiction. Although commonly dismissed as little more than an exciting, testosterone-pumping duel between two well-matched professional hunters, there is a deeper political and social meaning to this widely read but rarely critiqued story. Beneath the thrill of the chase, the two main characters--Sanger Rainsford, a young American traveler, and General Zaroff, an old Russian aristocrat--represent competing views of the world that were at strong odds in the first quarter of the twentieth century.…
This story exemplifies a young boy’s growth in moral education, as well as, his realization that there are consequences for his actions. Wright uses the title to foreshadow the bildungsroman theme in the story. Although the story strongly exemplifies a coming-of-age narrative, it also portrays a sort of coming-of-(r)age. Dave, the main character, is exhausted with society treating him like a child. “One of these day he was going to get a gun and practice shooting, then they couldn’t talk to him as though he were a little boy.”(1062) He believes that by purchasing a gun than he will be respected as a man. “Could kill a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or white. And if I were holding his gun in his hand nobody could run over him; they would have to respect him.” (1065) After purchasing the gun, he hides it from his mother and lies to her about the gun’s whereabouts. This exemplifies only a fraction of his childish behavior. Dave then carries the gun with him as he goes to work for Mr. Hawkins in the field. While playing with the dangerous weapon, he fires the gun and it wounds one of Mr. Hawkins’s mules. When Mr. Hawkins learns about what Dave has done, he approaches Dave with an agreement on how Dave may repay him for killing his mule. However, Dave continues to feels that he is not considered as an equal to the adults. Later at night, Dave decides to carry his gun to…
First, a person can learn things about the old west from Willa Cather’s My Antonia and A Wagner Matinee such as how beautiful it was. Many…