The Virginian by Owen Wister
Introduction
The Virginian, a novel by Owen Wister is dated back to 1902. The book dedicated to the then president Theodore Roosevelt made a turning point in American literature. The Virginian quenched the thirst of most Americans who thought that after the frontier, they would be overwhelmed by the tidal wave of urbanism and industrialization. This novel shared misgivings and reflected on predominant feelings of the progressive era. In The Virginian, the Cowboy hero reflects both Theodore Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson, portraying the age character. The setting of this romantic novel is set in the vast Wyoming territory. It dates between to 1870 and 1880 and is about Wister’s epic tale of a man’s journey into the wild region of Wyoming (Wister 127). The courageous but mysterious cowboy who is known as the Virginian is caught up at a crossroad between the woman he loves and his quest for justice. In this book, romance takes centre stage. However, this theme is both idealized and too reserved. The author uses an unhappily awkward dialect to portray the Virginian speech. The author is equally sensitive to the rough justice that has meted out. In the story, there is true love between the narrator and the Virginian.
The Idealistic features of the Virginian and Molly
The young Virginian charms us as he does the narrator in his own special way, courage, modesty and thoughtful effort to understand a world, in which men, the fine ones included, act disgracefully and made cowardly choices. This man is very sentimental and is ready in all humility to self analyze and improve himself. The book brings out different themes including humor, poetic description, sentiment, introspection and tragedy. Owen is seen to have portrayed notable, firm themes in all American history. The Virginian is an idealized figure in the book, his breath taking charm takes the reader aback, and he is cultured. The Virginian is a cowboy who is a natural aristocrat. In his novel, Owen Wister, presents the Virginian as plain and unattached, but gradually as you read the novel he becomes complex. He is first seen as a cowpuncher, with no ideal personality. He is lame in his endeavors (Wister 131). As the story unravels his wit and bravery is portrayed.
At the end of the novel, the hero shoots and kills a fugitive named Trampas. Before Trampas is shot dead, Molly the hero’s sweetheart states that she will not marry him if he put his life on jeopardy against Trampas. The charming hero goes ahead with his mission and despite all this, Molly takes him back. Miss Molly Wood is an eastern schoolteacher from Vermont. In the plot of the story, she shows the unraveling of the romance between the Virginian and the schoolteacher. However, their marriage is threatened by Trampas, who works at the farm too. Trampas is later shot dead by the Virginian in self-defense. In this classic, Molly is horrified when Steve the Virginian’s friend is sentenced to hanging after being accused and convicted of cattle rustling; this shows that she is not cultured in this manner. Her accepting the Virginian is out of character according to the image she had earlier portrayed. The story ends when Molly is carried to the mountains by the Virginian after he has proved that he is capable of taking his rightful place in the community. She is portrayed as intimidating because she is learned unlike her boyfriend, the Virginian. When the Virginian first writes her a letter, he is worried about how she would respond to the letter and if she would she judge his writing skills. She is also conventional
How America is democratic according to the novel
The novel depicts the closing frontier justice meted by the protagonist. This theme is elaborated by Wister in his book. Wister establishes the conventions of the western literary genre. The evolution of the Virginian is accustomed to America, revitalized by the hardships of the rural life. This keeps a turner of the frontier thesis. The frontier was a necessary source for the democratic source of America. The Virginian depicted how the society was supposed to act in the state of nature. It is through literature that America could re-awaken a man’s dream outside his civilized boundaries. Wister has discussed American equality and the actual iniquities between men and their result. The Virginian recognizes the centrality of equality to the understanding of politics in the book. As the cowpuncher charms her girl, the fundamental preposition of the declaration of independence is portrayed. The hero talks about equality in different settings in the book. Through examining man in his natural state, main ideas are developed; examples are inequalities amongst men and women. This explains the origin of inequalities amongst the two genders. It is through his life portrayed by Owen Wister that we are able to see the thoughts on inequality clearly (Wister 136). It is in this view that the reader learns of the social hierarchies, the nature and the law that it builds, interpreted by how men are equal in spite of the actual inequality.
Quality and equality
This makes quality and equality an answer to the closing of the frontier. In a proper state of nature, complete freedom is a necessity. Nature does not require a formalized state of law taking dominion over men. In the Virginian, one can note that the centrality of equality is emphasized. One is able to understand the American politics through out the book. A fine definition of equality is drawn by the Virginian when he speaks of equality by setting up a faulty inequality between the men and the women. The Virginian further explains the source of inequality. This seems a very odd way to look at it basing on the fact that the characters in the book are not equal in any manner. There is a great struggle of intelligence between the Virginian and Trampas. In the American justice, they form their basis on the usual equality of man and his intrinsic freedom. The allowance and conservation of equal opportunity in America is as Wister puts it. Trampas is more of tricky than brave (Wister 142). We all admit that men come in different packages. In an American mind, it is hard to consider that equality is an act of justice. The Virginian is an American story about the Frontier. Most of the America’s belief is on equality. The Virginian romanticizes the making of good of each element.
Conclusion
The act of being equal demands that one respects the freedom of the other to implement their equality. It is proper for a man to be right for the sake of another. This right nature is seen in the body, power, and even in a man’s wealth. It is a common assumption that one may use his or her resources unequally, as much as people might be gifted with more than they require but for a different use from others. In The Virginian, one is able to note the forms of government towards the end of the novel. The author introduces this forms of government that include an acting mayor, juries, and counties. Despite this government positions being mentioned in the book, no form of action is taking place. This theme is relevant to the twentieth century but unlike during these times, the jury serves in the justice system in the modern age. In the book, the inactive nature of the law is seen in the Virginian, the hero’s employer who is a judge, asks the Virginian to preside over the hanging of the thieves. Among the thieves is the Virginian’s friend Steve; this saddens the Virginian but he has to adhere to the command given to him. This is not as an act of passion but rather of justice. In this book, the Virginian is exemplified as a natural man uncorrupted by the society.
Religion as seen in the Virginian is covered in several chapters. God is seen as both a conformist and natural. Wister relates both religion and equality. He shows that in his nature, God has certain qualities that anyone who believes in him has to accept. In the end of the book, there are other notions that continue to gain success. In comparison to both the twentieth and the twenty first century, the Virginian is seen as an equal. He is civil enough to get accustomed to the clothes and manners of the poor aristocrats. There is law, order, politics and technology. As the Virginian ropes the range with his body, strength .This is seen as him being a man of greatness in business and in his enterprises seen in the way he reasons and in his mind. The cowboy shows sympathy and reasons relentlessly preserving his freedom as he protected the interests of others. In the very same way, the inclusion of a character like Trampas enables us to look at the imperfect nature of others in the society.
In the present day, everyone is aware of his or her status regarding imbalanced consequences of each man’s equal use of liberty. The Virginian explains to us how we are to frame the society to prevent certain problems. He shows this when he expresses to Molly how he felt when the young come-outer was dying in the book Father and Sons. In this book, lessons drawn from it include creating a society with its imperfect nature wasting away men like the Virginian. It is fundamental that people learn and consent the equality of all men to prosper, basing on the foundation of reason and pity. The onslaught on modernization that changed the United States is in the beginning of the 20th Century together with the need of a new hero in character, wit, bravery giving birth to urbanization.
Works Cited
Wister, Owen. The Virginian. UK: Gardners Books, 2007. Print.
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