Josh Reed

12/13/99

English 444

"The Last Romantic"

"The Virginian" is a book best described by its author, Owen Wister, as a "historical novel." According to Wister a historical novel is: "Any narrative which presents faithfully a day and a generation is of necessity historical; and this one presents Wyoming between 1874 and 1890." "The Virginian," and its plot describes to us and whisks us away straight into the heart of the "old west," a world full of primordial pleasures and dangers, a world since vanished, and a world which belonged to and was the roaming grounds of what Wister considered to be the last romantic figure to stand upon American soil, the "cowboy."

The cowboy is truly a unique and romantic character. He followed an unwritten code of ethics similar to the knights code of chivalry. Whatever task he set out to accomplish, he gave it his all. The money that he earned, he earned honestly usually through hard strenuous physical toil. He was a man that loved and respected his "hoss," and animals as much as he did humans. Also according to Wister:

"If he gave his word, he kept it; Wall Street would have found him behind the times. Nor did he talk lewdly to women; Newport would have thought him old fashioned. He and his brief epoch make a complete picture, for in themselves they were as complete as the pioneers of the land and the explorers of the sea."

In this passage it is clear to see that Wister views the cowboy in almost mythic proportions. Unlike the majestic Knights of the Round Table, however the cowboy was not without his flaws. He was wild spirited, had the same temptations as everyone else, and was generally untamed. He was in the words of Wister, "a hero without wings."

The "hero" or protagonist of this story the Virginian definitely fit the description of a "hero without wings" he did not have a name, he was simply referred to by the narrator as "The Virginian." However, his name was of little importance for the Virginian was more than just a cowboy, he was what every cowboy strove to be. For the Virginian personified all of the before mentioned traits, qualities, and attributes that embodied the romantic view of the cowboy in Wister’s eyes.

The Virginian was the epitome of Wister’s romantic view of the American cowboy. He was tall, dark, handsome, and mischievous with a good sense of humor. Like a true cowboy the Virginian through sheer hard work and gritty determination worked his way from being merely a cowhand on "Judge Henry’s," farm at Medicine Bow to the foreman. The money he made he earned through honest hard work accept for the occasional easy money he won at "cyards." He never squandered his money or spent it frivolously his only indulgence was to buy things for his fiancé and eventual wife Mrs. Molly Wood (a quite chivalrous quality). His word was his bond and when he spoke he commanded respect, even from his enemies. He was polite to the ladies and everyone he became acquainted with for that matter, and he had the vigilance and temperance of a Saint; even in his clashes with his vile arch enemy Trampas he refused to lose his calm demeanor. The Virginian also had a wild side he loved to perform small humorous acts of "treachery" upon the unassuming residents of Medicine Bow. One time at a small get together, he snuck into the nursery and switched around all of the babies garments causing a great deal of calamity and hysteria when the parents of the children arrived home and realized that their babies weren’t who they thought they were. Another time the Virginian won a "tall tale" competition by enticing his entire company of men into believe that their was an immeasurable amount of wealth to made in the lucrative art of "frog farming." Wister’s romantic vision of the cowboy and the way he portrayed and developed the character of the "Virginian," made the reader long for the romanticism of the old west.

The plot of this book was simple but classic it was your typical Good vs. Evil, good guy gets the girl, dime store novel Western plot with a few twists. The good guy the Virginian was constantly harassed throughout the book (until their final showdown which he won), by a vile, despicable horse thief named Trampas. Trampas was truly an evil character who shot people in the back and stole, his description invoked memories of other infamous villains of literature such as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Satan in Mitltons "Paradise Lost." The plot twist came when Mrs. Molly Wood (The Virginians love interest), moved to Wyoming from back East. When Molly and the Virginian first met it was "love at first sight," although Molly would initially not let herself fall in with this desperado because she came from a highly distinguished and respectable family. The couples courting and their eventual union was an example of how in the romantic West love could triumph over all, and that what social class you came from didn’t matter nearly as much as what kind of person you were. This kind of corny romantic plot was a welcome relief from the drab depressing stories we have been reading in class, it gave us a genuine hero to root for and a reason to stand up and cheer.

I liked "The Virginian," it was realistic in the way it described the landscape of Wyoming during the late 19th century and the way it developed the character of the Virginian as if Wister actually knew him. However it didn’t bore you to death with details and it also gave you enough of a plot to make it feel as if you were reading an actual story and not some realist author’s physcho babble about the state of society or mankind. Reading this book made me long for the freedom and wildness that made life as a cowboy seem so romantic. In today’s world it is hard to find heroes and the sense of romanticism that can be considered on par with that of the cowboy. So where has the last true romantic American figure gone. In Wister’s words he has "rode off into his historic yesterday, you will no more see him gallop out of the unchanging silence than you will see Columbus on the unchanging sea come sailing form Palos with his caravels. He has rode off into the sunset, but even though the romantic version of the cowboy is gone his spirit will never die. For hidden inside every one's heart is the unmistakable yearning for freedom, goodness, and wildness; the cowboy spirit. I think it was Wister's goal in writing "The Virginian," to bring out the invisible romantic cowboy spirit in all of us (not to overwhelm us with his vast literary talent), and in my humble opinion he accomplished exactly what he set out to do.