George Washington and the cherry tree, honest Abe Lincoln, John Smith and Pocahontas, are just a few of the popular American myths, but none can compare to the myth of the American West. The happenings of the Eastern United States often mirrored what was happening in Europe, but no place else had an unexplored, untamed West like the one in America. The fact that it was unexplored made it intriguing to adventurers and those who wanted to make a new life for themselves.It was the wildness that pulled at the heart strings of many who would go into this uncharted territory that would later become a vital part of the country, but how much of what was known was myth and how much was reality was blurred. Myth is acquired and preserved as part of out language.
We observe its operation in the quality of historical resonance that attaches to terms like “frontier,” Cowboys and Indians,” or “Last Stand.” (Slotkin p 74) In the famous 1906 painting Against the Sunset by Frederick Remington, fires the imagination of the real American West.The lines of truth and myth are often blurred when it comes to the story of the American West as the lines of the painting are blurred. Much of the grass is blurred and the blades are indistinctive. The lines of the horse’s legs, hoofs, and tail seem to blend with the grass, and the feature of the horse’s face is its nose and the rest lacks a presence.
Yet when one looks at the facial features of the man riding the horse are blurred into nonexistence. The only discernable painting, it is obvious that the horse has legs, tail, and a face, as well as the man who is riding the horse. So it is not completely false, but yet the truth of one’s vision that sees the whole picture is tricked by the blurring of the colors. The same is true about the West.Not everything that is known is false. However, the lines between the two are blurred so that the actual line of truth and fiction is as nonexistent as the features of the faces in the painting.
This is in part true because of the genre of literature the Western that was depicted by Bret Hart, Louis L’ Amour, and other writers of the genre as well as Hollywood and the Western movies that have been popular for almost a century. At first the literature was for the adventurer who needed a purpose in life.The stories were actually thinly disguised propaganda to entice people who were not exactly satisfied with their lives to help settle and populate the American frontier. They were aimed at a working class audience and served as a contested terrain in which the values and concepts of the working class resonated. (Klein p 58) This life was not romantic, but hard and dangerous.
In fact, as many died an early death as lived. It also attracted criminals and others who were looking for a new identity for one reason or another.After years of watching Western movies and reading the genre that is truly American. Moving Westward, the frontier became more and more American.
(Turner p 203) Many have the myth of the Western planted firmly in their brains.One of the aspects of the myth is the life of the cowboy. The romantic notion that the cowboy was an independent soul who was free from the laws of man and was one with the elements of nature is too good to be true. Life as a cowboy was extremely lonely.
As in the picture, the cowboy was a single person who would sometimes go months without seeing another individual.Their goal was to transport cattle from the ranch to the slaughterhouse or the train to transport them. The only food that they had was the ones that could be transported easily so it was cured. They often did not have the opportunity to bathe and their clothes would literally rot off their bodies. They are still a strong symbol in American history.
They were seen as the ultimate symbol of masculinity because the job was not one for the weak of heart or physical condition. A cowboy had to be fit in every way. Even when the myth is put aside, the cowboy is appreciated for the fact that they helped feed a nation, and the endurance they had for hardship.An obvious element of the painting is that there is a fast motion being depicted. The cowboy is moving quickly to reach his destiny. This is symbolic of America’s view of manifest destiny.
Manifest destiny was the idea that America was preordained to increase their territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.It was assumed that this destiny was ordained from God. The idea was to move, as the cowboy, to achieve this purpose. America was seen as the promise land and the others who dwelt in the land must be overpowered so that they could move into this new land.In so doing the Native Americans felt the harsh end of the westward expansion. The most tragic part of the myth is that the Native American was a savage who did not deserve to be a part of the settling of the frontier.
The cowboy in the painting has a darkened face, but it is because of the darkening that will usher in the night.He is Caucasian, and he is alone. Any time that the European settlers were invaded or taken advantage of, they fought back. We see those who did as heroes. When Native American’s did the same thing, they were seen as barbaric and it was felt that they should be annihilated. The ghost dancers of Wounded Knee were a perfect example of this.
They only wanted to take back what was theirs because they were tired of being treated as subhuman by the American government. While they were dancing their religious dance in December of 1890 that they felt would lead to their destiny, the US army was called in and in less than two hours they had killed over two hundred Native Americans.This incident is now seen as a horrible tragedy, but for close to a hundred years, it was seen as a victory for the US army. In literature and movies, the Naïve Americans are seen as ignorant savages who’s whole purpose in life is to keep the people of European descent from doing what they were destined to do and that is to settle the continent.The colors used by Remington in Against the Sunset are earth tones.
These are not muted shades, but are rich, bold colors. The gold of the sunset catches the eye at first glance. It is vivid with greens and reds mixed with it. The tones of green used in the grass are also deep colors. There is a lighter green applied to the deeper one to give the appearance of movement to the blades as the cowboy quickly rides by.
The horse’s coat gives the illusion that it has picked up the hues of the sunset. The colors used on the single figure in the painting start out on the lower part of his body with a striking reddish brown, but the colors become darker the further toward the head. This is supposed to be the shadow cast by the lowering of the sun, but it gives the effect of anonymity of the cowboy because most true cowboys’ names are lost in the annuls of history.These rich earth tone colors represent the oneness that the cowboy had with nature.
If he did not know the land, the creatures of the territory, and the signs for weather, it could mean death for him and his cattle. He might not have had a formal education, but an education in nature was a must.The American West will always be intriguing. People have fallen in love with the myth and in many ways they would rather believe in it than the truth of the West. It is a way for men young and old to escape to a place in time where men were men, and the weak and faint hearted were weeded out by the rough living.
The American West and its myth will live on into the future. The painting Against the Sunset will forever portray the blurred lines between myth and reality.Works CitedKlein, Christina. Everything of Interest in the Late Pine Ridge War Are Held by Us For Sale:Popular Culture and Wounded Knee. Western Historical Quarterly Spring 1944.
Slotkin, Richard. Myth and the Production of History. Ideology and Classic AmericanLiterature. Press.Turner, Frederick J.
The Significance of the Frontier in American History. Report ofProceedings of Ninth Annual Meeting the American Historical Association. 11-13, July 1893.
