Myth versus Realism in the "Old
West" LONESOME DOVE While Larry McMurtry honors certain mythical features
of the "Old West," his epic,
Lonesome Dove, is the quintessential
representation of the realism of the "Old West." By contrast, mythic
representations of the "Old West" tend
to look absurd and silly. Stories such
as the one portrayed in the film "True Grit" appear to be ridiculous
because of their one-dimensional
presentation of characters, including
women; their passive, utopian environments; and their conveniently distinct
depiction of good and evil. Larry
McMurtry's Lonesome Dove presents
characters not larger than life but complex, women who are not frightened and
dependent, but self-sufficient
and wise. "McMurtry is unfailing
acute on the life of women in this man's world" (Clemons, Contemporary
Literary Criticism 254). In mythic
representations such as "True
Grit" villains are not people with complicated backgrounds which cause
their poor behavior. Nor are there Indians
or black people in "True Grit"
although the "Old West" was populated by them. "All of Mr.
McMurtry's anti-mythic groundwork-his refusal to
glorify the West-works to reinforce the
strength of the traditionally mythic parts of Lonesome Dove by making it far
more credible than the old
familiar horse operas" (Lemann,
Literary Criticism 257) such as "True Grit." In the film "True
Grit" Rooster Cogburn typifies the preposterous
qualities of a mythical United States
Marshall. He acts alone in hunting down serious killers, but this is no problem
because Rooster, even though a
drunk, earlier has brought to justice a
wagon-load of wrongdoers. Later, with the reins of his horse in his teeth,
Rooster shoots all of his
antagonists except for his arch enemy
who shoots Rooster's horse out from under him. Just as the arch enemy, Robert
Duvall, is about to shoot
Rooster, from far away someone
conveniently kills Duvall. Rooster is a man whose weaknesses never pull him
down, because he is "larger than
life" (Hirsch, E! Online 2).
Rooster Cogburn is a character of mythical stature whose defects never prevent
him from accomplishing his heroic
deeds. Larry McMurtry's characters in his
novel, Lonesome Dove, demonstrate actual "grit." While Augustus (Gus)
McCrae is an indolent man,
unlike Rooster Cogburn, Gus is not
ashamed of his laziness. "It's a good thing that I ain't scairt' to be lazy"
(McMurtry 9). Gus would rather have a
whisky bottle in his hand than a shovel
(Horn, Literary Criticism 255), but his crew forgives his weaknesses because
they respect his heroic
capabilities as an authentic, fierce
fighter and loyal friend. Gus McCrae's former Texas Ranger partner , Captain
Woodrow C. Call, proves himself
a terrific leader and an excellent
cowboy who at the same time lacks typical cowboy sociability. "He heads
for the river because he is tired of
hearing us yap, he ain't a sociable man
and never was" (McMurtry 26). Unlike Rooster Cogburn, who always acts
flamboyantly, Woodrow Call's
personality changes dramatically because
he is genuinely influenced by his circumstances. He is always the first to react
to danger including
anticipating poisonous snakes while on
the trail, and occasionally saving his crew from harm. Call acts the part when
needed. The "portrayal of
McCrae and Call,…as both heroic and
endearingly human,…particularly delighted critics" (Literary Criticism
253). The foolish humor in "True
Grit" attempts to create the belief
that a one-eyed, alcoholic man who falls off his horse can individually solve
problems because he has "true grit."
The gritty Rooster Cogburn lives with a
little Chinese man and a cat which seems silly in the way it provides humorous
relief. This is a common
gimmick that film makers use who
represent the "Old West" in a mythic way. Rooster's eating habits
also characterize him comically. He often puts
rock hard bacon bits into his mouth,
even offering them to dainty women like Kim Darby who is shocked by the offer.
Other aspects of humor
arise when at the film's conclusion.
Rooster rides away while improbably jumping over a fence in a manner of an
agile young cowboy. In fact,
Rooster is a cowboy cut-up whose
drinking habits lead to…laughable incidents" throughout the film (Hirsch,
E! 2). In contrast, reviewers praised
Larry McMurtry's chronicle of cowboy
life in the nineteenth century "as a humorous yet sincere tribute to the
American West" (Literary Criticism
253). McMurtry provides his characters
with realistic humor as when Woodrow reflects on his partnership with Gus: It's
odd I partnered with a
man like you, Call, Augustus said. If we
was to meet now instead of when we did, I doubt we'd have two words to say to
one another. Woodrow
Call responded, I wish it could happen
then, if it would hold you to two words. (Literary Criticism 257) The exchange
between Call and McCrae
portrays two genuinely good friends and
"gritty" cowboys expressing humor ironically to each other. Call and
McCrae converse credibly, not in the
gimmicky way that the characters in
"True Grit," or those of typical unrealistic western genre talk to
each other. The treatment of women in
mythical representations of the
"West" varies sharply with their realistic treatment in Lonesome
Dove. In mythical representations women tend to
be
either dependent and frightened without much personality, or planning
exaggerated "missions of revenge" such as the Matty Ross in
"True Grit."
In the mythical "Old West" men
always arrive just in time to save the day. The women in need constantly search
for a man "with grit." In the
mythical "West" there are no
gritty women, but there are those who can improbably accomplish what men
cannot. Matty can ride her horse across
a river while Rooster and his partner
take a ferry. Lonesome Dove realistically depicts women such as Clara Allen and
Lorena Wood who are
"glorious [in their]
individuality." Clara and Lorena are "willful and passionate"
and possess "charismatic" personalities (Horn, Literary Criticism
255). Also, in realistic portrayals a
cowboy can be involved with two women simultaneously. One may even be a
prostitute such as Lorena who is
never-the-less beautiful and
"delicate as a desert rose" (255). On the other hand ,Gus can love
Clara, a plain, sensible woman married to a dying
man. Clara is an authentic, Western
woman, caring for three children while also running a horse ranch. Instead of
being frightened by the frontier
and grasping the hand of the man next to
her, Clara cares for a dependent man while bravely facing the demands of the
frontier. Clara's home lies
twenty miles from the nearest town,
"a place where Indians were a dire threat, though Clara didn't seem to
fear them" (McMurtry 653). Unlike
mythical treatments of frontier women,
the realistic portrayal permits them to evolve. Lorena begins her relationship
with Gus by having contempt
for him. She treats Gus crudely,
"Don't you cheat, Gus…. If you cheat I won't give you no pokes"
(519). Gradually, Lorena begins trusting Gus to
hide her from the harsh reality of her
career and life. She begins to love Gus so strongly "that sex, somehow,
weakens [and they] become best of
friends" (Horn, Literary Criticism
255). Only in a realistic depiction of a Western woman could the portrayal of a
prostitute be dynamic enough to
be interesting apart from her sexual
life. Mythical or realistic depictions of characters and their actions also
influence the treatment of good and evil
in "True Grit" and Lonesome
Dove. In "True Grit" the villains are unambiguously always bad with
no character trait that redeems them or makes
them appear fully human or makes them
somewhat likeable. In one scene Rooster Cogburn interrogates some villains whom
he believes are about
to rob a bank. Suddenly, one begins to
talk, and as he speaks, another takes out a knife and cuts off the speaker's
fingers. No aspect of friendship
between the two is evident. Each is a
one-dimensional character. Each is a villain and therefore always
"wrong." Therefore, one deserves to be
harmed by his partner without mercy
while the partner himself deserves being killed by Rooster who is always
"right" in these matters because he is
the "good guy." By contrast,
the characters in Lonesome Dove are not easy to love or hate. They encourage
conflicting emotions because they are
complicated. The distinction between
good and evil, right and wrong is not always clear because fictional events are
portrayed realistically, as they
might have occurred in the Old West. In
one tragic scene, Deets a likeable, former Texas Ranger who happens to be
black, is killed by a young
Indian who is ignorant that Deets is
trying to rescue a small, blind Indian boy. Deets once pursued Indians under
the command of Woodrow Call
and Augustus McCrae, and now he is with
them pursuing a small group of mostly women and children together with a few
young braves not yet of
fighting age. Call fires a shot to
disperse the Indians who hastily leave one, small, boy behind who cannot see.
Deets tries to save the boy, but in
the confusion is slain by the young
brave. It wasn't right for the brave to kill Deets, but the brave couldn't
weigh all the facts. He only understood
that when guns fire, usually Indians are
killed, and he had never associated a cowboy with someone who might be helpful
or good. In his
passionate attempt to "save"
the boy, the young brave "couldn't stop coming and couldn't stop hating
either…." (McMurtry 800). It was not clearly
wrong or immoral for the Indians to take
the horses when all the factors surrounding the incident are considered. Of the
twenty Indians involved,
most of them were women and children and
therefore not a threat to Call and the others. Furthermore, the Indians took
the horses for food; they
had been starving. They were without
food because of the effects of the war they had fought with the white man over
land the white man was
taking from them. Gus understands this
dilemma immediately when he sees the hungry Indians eating the horses:
"These aren't the mighty Plains
Indians we've been hearing about…Let's
go, we don't want to be shooting these people, although it would be a
mercy…."(798). Neither Call nor
Macrae administer instant justice. The
world of good and evil is not defined in the clear cut black and white manner
as for Rooster Cogburn. Both
Call and McCrae are troubled over the death
of Deets. "[Call] could not get over his surprise. Though he had seen
hundreds of surprising things in
battle, this was the most
shocking…." (802). The "half-breed" Blue Duck is a complicated
character whose life and actions blur the line that
separates good and evil. Blue Duck was
an old foe of Call and McCrae in their Texas Ranger days of hunting Indians.
Blue Duck carried out
many bad deeds in his life including
shooting another Indian in the head in order to convince the rest that it was
not a good idea to reveal his
location to the white men. He could just
as easily kill a white man. At the end of his life when he was finally caught,
he jumped out of a window to
his death taking a white deputy with
him. Blue Duck turned out committing evil deeds, but he was a product of two
cultures which each rejected
him, the Indian and the white. He was
half Indian and half white, but he was all confused. He was bound to be a
"sufferer," it was his only means of
survival. Cultures can be judged just as easily for their actions as
individuals, and the results of such judgements are not always easy to define.
Reality brings with it ambiguity. The
role of environment in mythical stories of the "Old West" is a
background paradise. Whereas in realistically
told stories such as Lonesome Dove, it
plays a more active, determining role. In "True Grit" the environment
is never a factor that hinders the
achievement of Rooster Cogburn's goals.
Neither Rooster nor his companions ever confront a hail of grasshoppers which
can throw him off his
horse. He can accomplish this on his
own. Rooster is never stopped from pursuing the killer of Matty Ross' father
because of a violent wind or
sand storm. Unlike Woodrow Call who is
obsessed with the surrounding environment because it brings the threat of
Indians, Rooster Cogburn
rides through an harmless environment
that is more like a paradise than like a place where "the earth is mostly
just a boneyard but pretty in the
sunlight" according to Gus McCrae
(Horn, Literary Criticism 255). Larry McMurtry portrays the environment of the
"Old West" almost as if it
were another character because of its
ability to alter the lives of the actual characters. If one character could
shoot another without mercy, then the
environment could also cause harm
without pity. In Lonesome Dove when their comrades have suffered from some
environmental "attack" such as
a wind or rain storm, the other cowboys
react to their safety as if they had been attacked by Indians. When Newt became
lost, the first question
he asked the others upon returning was
"Did the grasshoppers hurt anybody?" (McMurtry 570). Yes, they
attacked the cowboys by covering the
cattle and eating their clothes.
Grasshoppers coming out of the environment spooked Jasper's horse which threw
him causing him to break a
collarbone (571). Sean O'Brien was
"attacked" by a water moccasin and dies not because he made a poor
choice against a human enemy such as
not drawing his gun fast enough but
because the environment was dangerous, and like a bad person could be harmful
if it was disregarded long
enough. Bill Spettle lost his life together
with twelve cattle in a thunderstorm. This same storm altered the lives of the
cowboys by hindering the
herd's progress. It might not be a
person but instead rain, hail, or grasshoppers which by their actions could
alter the direction of the actual
characters'. In this way the environment
could appear to be another character and at times a threatening one. Larry
McMurtry was raised on a
Texas Livestock Ranch which provided him
an intimate understanding of Texas, cowboys, and the whole culture surrounding
ranch life. As a boy
he often spoke with older men who knew
the experience of the "Old West" well. His uncles often told him
"about the days when the range was
open [and about] …wily Indian villains
[such as Blue Duck] and the good-hearted…Lorena" (Literary Criticism 253).
With such a personal
influence, McMurtry was informed and
inspired to see if he could make the tales of the old days "real"
(253). McMurtry's background allows him
to write a Western novel "known for
its realism" (Martin, personal interview). Lonesome Dove separates itself
distinctly from mythic
representations of the "Old
West" by its realistic treatment of characters including women; the
environment; and the forces of good and evil.
Cowboys can be formally educated, even
if flawed. Gus McCrae's Latin could be comical. It translated: "The
cluster of grapes-many sided,
parti-colored, diverse-through living,
begets one grape" (Sewell, Literary Criticism 261). At the same time Gus
poor Latin brought pleasure to a
dying man like Wilbarger, and it was an
honest description of Gus, Jake Spoon, and Woodrow Call (261). McMurtry's
depiction of people,
morality, and the environment of the
"Old West" contains a power that "rests in the awesomeness of
the myth of the cowboy. The myth,
heretofore, foisted upon gullible
audiences by Hollywood, can now be drawn from the fiction of one who knows the
myth" (Sewell, Literary
Criticism 261) to represent it
realistically. Works Cited: 1. Clemons, Walter, et. al. "Larry McMurtry,
Lonesome Dove." Contemporary Literary
Criticism 44 (1986): 253-262. 2.
Contemporary Authors Volume 5-8. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1984 P. 767 3.
Martin, Linda. Personal
Interview. April 1998 4. McMurtry,
Larry. Lonesome Dove. New York: Pocket Books, 1985. 5. Skow, John.
"Climbing the Foothill." Time 4
Sept. 1995: 65. 6. "The Box:
Lonesome Dove." 99 Lives 16 pp. Online. Internet. 2 May 1998. Available
http://www.99
Lives.com/features/box/ldepi2.html. 7.
True Grit. Dir. Henry Hathaway. Perf. John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby,
Robert Duvall, Dennis
Hopper, and Jeremy Slate. Malofilm
Group, 1969.
Word Count: 2687
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