The Virginian Essay, Research Paper

An mean history pupil s word picture of the Wild West or frontier life during the 1870s would dwell of a cowpuncher hero who is contending a scoundrel that is normally Native American. This word picture is a stereotype that resulted from such telecasting shows like Bonanza during the 1950s and novels. The images portrayed in these points are passed on from coevals to coevals therefore altering the perceptual experience of a history pupil today. A book that has both stereotyped qualities yet factual content is The Virginian. In Owen Wister s The Virginian, a history pupil can comprehend the day-to-day life, civilization, and environment of the colonists in the Great Plains or The Frontier.

The Virginian is a narrative about a adult male who is nicknamed The Virginian. The book is written from the position of the Virginian & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; city-boy & # 8221 ; friend, and the two have several adventures. One of the chief struggles in the narrative is between the Virginian and cattle-rustler/murderer Trampas. Throughout the narrative the Trampas are locked in combat. Trampas besides tries to do the Virginian expression bad but it does non work. Miss Molly Wood, a mincing school instructor from the East with a household history and a head of her ain becomes the miss for the Virginian so the Virginian sets off on a amusing courtship. The book ends with the two acquiring married and holding a good life together.

The day-to-day life of a individual can be really different to each other do to different businesss. The different occupations you can acquire in the frontier are a husbandman, a cowpuncher. The occupations are non what one expects. In The Virginian, The Virginian has to wake up early in the forenoons and work up to 12 hours a twenty-four hours rounding up cowss. After words, he would travel to kip under the stars or outside. The occupation of a cowpuncher is to round up cowss and present them topographic points. They must digest adversities like stampede, electrical storms, and dust storms. This quotation mark explains their status.

We ne’er passed a human being this twenty-four hours. Some wild cowss rushed up to us and off from us ; antelope stared at us from a 100 paces ; coyotes ran lurking through the sage-brush to watch us from the hill ; at our noon repast we killed a rattler and shooting some immature sage poulets, which were good at supper, roasted at out campfire. ( Wister 46 )

Life for a husbandman was hard besides. In The Virginian, a husbandman must hold to respond

Quickly to electrical storms, and locusts onslaughts in order for them to protect their harvests and farm animal. At one point in the narrative, Miss Molly Wood is worried about her poulets because a electrical storm could happen. She was besides afraid for her hogs excessively.

In The Virginian, the civilization is really much the same, as one would anticipate. The work forces are really polite

to the adult females. If they get married, the two get settled down to open a farm or a cattle spread. In the book, The Virginian is really sort to Molly Wood. He was really polite to her in order to win her love.

The manner they speak in The Virginian is the same as some cowpunchers spoke in the telecasting shows or books. They speak with a state speech pattern. This quotation mark shows their state speech patterns.

Energetic, ain t they? said the Southerner. But none of mutton quad was whelped barbarian adequate to sing himself bloody-minded. And though they re strainin mighty earnest non to be tame, they re traveling back to Sun Creek with me accordin to the Judges s awdehs. Never a calf of them will abandon to Rawhide, for all their dangerousness ; nor I ain t goin to hold any dither over it. Merely one is left now that Don T sing. Possibly I will hold to do some agreements about him. ( Wister 141 )

A history pupil s perceptive of the environment in the frontier can be changed from reading The Virginian. A normal pupil s perceptive of the country is a cowboy town with a barroom, a sheriff s office, a hostel, and some places. Although some towns of the west truly looked like that, most were non. Most of the clip, the towns were normally separated for farming. Most of the people had to either farm or be a cowpuncher.

The country of the Great Plains is really much a apparent country and some desert countries. In the Virginian s travels, he goes about fields, and sometimes abandon. He sometimes goes around to a bouldery country near a mountain. This quotation mark shows the landscape of the country.

In this cuplike spread of the ravine the shone heartily down, the tall ruddy drop was warm, the pines were was warm movie and filter of green ; outside the shadiness across Bear Creek rose to the steep, soft, unfastened yellow hill, warm and high to the blue, and Bear Creek tumbled upon its Sun twinkle rocks. ( Wister 280 )

This explains the scarceness of happening an country like this because in the Great Plains there is really small trees found. Besides, in the desert, there are practically no trees located.

In order for the people in the Great Plains to acquire around, they must utilize Equus caballuss. Horses are really of import for a cowpuncher to acquire around and drag carts. The cowpunchers tried to catch wild Equus caballuss in The Virginian.

The Virginian can assist a history pupil to acquire a better apprehension of history in the Great Plains during the 1870 s. A history pupil can larn about the life, civilization, and the environment of an mean Great Plains colonist. Although, some of the Virginian s narratives were fictional and non related to existent history, most of it explains the existent life battles of a existent cowpuncher. A history pupil can understand the adversities of what a existent life cowpuncher does and appreciate it.