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Friday, May 30, 2014

SHANE! COME BACK...NOT REALLY--by CHERYL PIERSON



Jack Schaefer’s book, Shane, has been classified in many sub-genres, but to me, it will always remain my favorite western romance.

Romance? Shane?

This story cannot have a truly happy-ever-after ending for all the principal characters, so it normally wouldn’t make it to my “Top Ten” list for that very reason. But the story itself is so compelling, so riveting, that there is no choice once you’ve read page one—you are going to finish it. And it’s not just a story about a very odd love triangle, but also about Shane discovering that he is worthy, and a good person, despite what he’s done in his past.

Shane is the perfect hero—a drifter, a loner, and no one knows why. He plans to keep it that way. If only his pesky conscience didn’t get in the way, he might have stopped briefly at the Starrett’s homestead, then moved on.

But from the beginning of the book, we know there is something different about Shane. The story is told through the eyes of Bob Starrett, the young son of Joe and Marion. Bob is about ten years old, and his account of the people and action that takes place are colored with the wonderment and naivete of a child who will be well on his way to becoming a young man before the story is over.

The book starts with tension, as Bob is watching the stranger, Shane, ride in. Shane comes to a fork in the road. One way leads down toward Luke Fletcher’s, the cattle baron who is trying to force the homesteaders out of the valley. The other branch of the fork leads toward the Starretts, the homesteaders who will ultimately force Fletcher’s hand. Shane chooses that path, toward the Starretts, and the die is cast.

He would have looked frail alongside father’s square, solid bulk. But even I could read the endurance in the lines of that dark figure and the quiet power in his effortless, unthinking adjustment to every movement of the tired horse.

He was clean-shaven and his face was lean and hard and burned from high forehead to firm, tapering chin. His eyes seemed hooded in the shadow of the hat’s brim. He came closer and I could see that this was because the brows were drawn into a frown of fixed and habitual alertness. Beneath them the eyes were endlessly searching from side to side and forward, checking off every item in view, missing nothing. As I noticed this, a sudden chill, and I could not have told why, struck through me there in the warm and open sun.

In a nutshell, Shane drifts into the Wyoming valley, and is befriended by the Starretts. Once there, he is quickly made aware of the brewing trouble between the homesteaders and the powerful local cattle baron, Luke Fletcher, who is set on running them all out of the valley. Shane is firmly committed to helping Joe Starrett and the homesteaders who want to stay. Fletcher’s men get into a fistfight with Shane and Joe in the general store, and Fletcher vows his men will kill the next time Joe or Shane come back into town.

Fletcher hires Stark Wilson, a well-known gunhawk, who kills one of the homesteaders that stands up to him. Joe Starrett feels it is his duty, since he convinced the others to stay, to go kill Fletcher and Wilson.

Shane knocks Joe out, knowing that, though Joe’s heart is in the right place, he’s no match for a hired gun like Wilson. There’s only one man who is—Shane himself, and that’s going to set him back on the path he’s so desperately trying to escape.

Shane rides into town and Bob follows him, witnessing the entire battle. Shane faces Wilson down first, and then Fletcher. Shane turns to leave and Bob warns him of another man, who Shane also kills. But Shane doesn’t escape unscathed—Wilson has wounded him in the earlier gunplay.

Shane rides out of town, and though Bob wishes so much that Shane could stay, he understands why he can’t. No. Bob does not utter one of the most famous lines in cinema history—“Shane! Come back!” There’s good reason for this. In the book, Bob’s growth is shown because of what he learns from Shane. To call him back would negate that growth process.

He describes Shane throughout the book, and in many ways, with a child’s intuition, understands innately that Shane is a good man and will do the right thing, which is proven out time and again. So, he also realizes that there is no place for Shane there in the valley, now that the trouble has been handled.

Bob witnesses the conversation between his mother and Shane, as well, where so much is said—and not said. It’s one of the major turning points in the book, though Bob, in his telling of it, doesn’t realize it—but the reader is painfully aware of it. If Shane really is a good man, he will have no recourse but to leave.

This happens as the novel is drawing to a close, when Marian, Bob’s mother, asks Shane if he’s going after Wilson just for her. He has knocked her husband out to keep him from going after the gunman.

Shane hesitated for a long, long moment. “No, Marian.” His gaze seemed to widen and encompass us all, mother and the still figure of father huddled on a chair by the window and somehow the room and the house and the whole place. Then he was looking only at mother and she was all he could see.
“No, Marian. Could I separate you in my mind and afterwards be a man?”

Shane was Jack Schaefer’s debut novel, published in 1949. It was honored in 1985 by the Western Writers of America as the best Western novel ever written—beating out other works such as Owen Wister’s The Virginian, Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage, and Louis L’Amour’s Hondo.
In 1963, Schaefer wrote Monte Walsh, a book that chronicles the passing of the Old West and the lifestyle of the American cowboy.

Schaefer never deliberately wrote for young adults, but many of his works have become increasingly popular among younger readers. Universal themes such as the transformation and changes of growing up, the life lessons learned, and rites of passage from childhood to becoming a young adult in his writing have been responsible for the upswing in popularity with this age group.

Though I consider Shane a romance novel, it’s a very different and memorable love triangle because of the unshakable honor of the three characters. I love the subtlety that Schaefer is such a master of, and the way he has Bob describing the action, seeing everything, but with the eyes of a child. If you haven’t read Shane, I highly recommend it—at less than 200 pages, it’s a quick, easy read, and unforgettable.

A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that. (Shane to Marian)

A man is what he is, Bob, and there’s no breaking the mold. I’ve tried that and I’ve lost. But I reckon it was in the cards from the moment I saw a freckled kid on a rail up the road there and a real man behind him, the kind that could back him for the chance another kid never had. (Shane to Bob)


What do you think about Shane? Have you ever seen the movie? Read the book? Which did you like better, and why?

13 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I personally never read the book or saw the movie, but my first husband loved the movie. He often commented on "Shane, come back." We named one of our sons Shane after that character. I now feel prompted to find the book in the library and read it.

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    1. Robyn, I always loved the name Shane. Probably would have named my son that, too, if my husband had gone along with it. Oh, yes, the book is one of those that you'll never forget. And you'll see why it wouldn't make sense for Bob to yell for Shane to come back, since in the book, you know his inner thoughts. Of course, they couldn't do that in the movie, so it made sense there.

      I hope you'll read it--it won't take you long. So glad you came by today!
      Cheryl

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    2. My younger brother's first name is Steven. I was about 13 when he was born, and I got to pick his middle name. One guess what his middle name is... yup. Shane. ;-) My grandfather, a voracious reader, introduced me to the book Shane in my early elementary years, although it took teaching the novel in high school English class about 45 years later to truly appreciate all aspects of the story.

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    3. Oh, I love that name! Stephen Shane! That really goes well together! I loved to use that book in my classes with adults (fiction writing) because invariably, there'd be one GUY in there who would say, "Why do we have to study THIS!?" and by the time the class was over, that person would be the biggest fan of it. LOL

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  3. I saw the movie first when I was 10 or 11 and read the book for the first time immediately. Both made a deep impression. The film is my all-time favourite and I recently re-read the novel for the umpteenth time. It is truly timeless.

    Greatly enjoyed your article.

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    1. Hey Caftan Woman! I remember seeing that movie as a youngster too. I didn't read the book until much later, though. The movie and the book are both just wonderful in my opinion--I use that novel to teach from a LOT when I teach adult fiction writing classes. You're right--it is timeless. So glad you stopped by and joined in our fun here at PRP!
      Cheryl

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  4. I saw the movie when I was a kid and, because I was a kid, I didn't understand why Shane up and left the boy and his mom. It was like watching Babi's mom get shot. So it was not my favorite western. Just sayin'. I never read the book, so I think that may have given me more insight into the necessity of Shane leaving.
    Your trilogy about Kane through the eyes of a child growing into a young man reminds me of Shane, only with a happier outcome. I hope some day you write the boy's story all grown up, Cheryl.
    I enjoy reading this blog with all the inside factoids.

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    1. Sarah, I bet if you read the book you'd enjoy it. Shane just had to go, and in the book, Bob understand why--in HIS view--he still doesn't really know about the love triangle.

      I love those stories in that Texas Legacy trilogy, and they're doing really well with Painted Pony Books. The first two are on the top 100 list for children's western literature, and the first one even made it onto the top 100 WESTERN list! I figure I'm going to have to revisit Will when he's a bit older and have him go to Boston and sort things out. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
      Cheryl

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  5. Shane was required reading at my all boys Catholic high school when I attended Notre Dame, and they still have copies in the school library. I love both the book and movie.

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    1. I do, too, Jim. Both of them are great in their own right. And for different reasons. I wish that had been required reading at my school--we got stuck with The Old Man and the Sea and Bartleby the Scrivener. LOL
      Cheryl

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  6. I admire both the novel and the film and your post reminded me of a difference between the two. I believe in the film, Joe and Shane fight, while in the book it's left to Bob only imagine who would lick who. Also, it's an older Bob who is looking back and reflecting with his narration in the book, which I think lends a nice perspective.

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    1. Yes, Rich, I think you're right about that fighting--OH, the imagination of a young boy like that! And so typical of kids saying, "My dad could lick yours!" only in his case...it would be something he would have a hard time picking a victor to cheer for--such a complication. And I like it that he is older in his reflection in the book--it does give it a very different perspective. Such a multi-faceted work, isn't it? Thanks so much for commenting!
      Cheryl

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