The film The Searchers portrays several concepts relating the cowboy and the land described in Jane Tompkins' West of Everything. The opening shot reveals a rugged desert landscape through a door frame and a lone rider in the distance. The rider, Ethan (John Wayne), is returning home after having fought in the Civil War. The concept of home (or "town" as Tompkins writes) contrasts that of the surrounding desert landscape. Home offers the comforts of rest, sustenance and security while the landscape offers just the opposite, forcing the hero to test his survival skills against the extreme challenges nature presents.
It is the extreme challenges nature poses that shape the character of the cowboy that chooses to face them. Tompkins states numerous times that men in westerns imitate the land in order to acquire its traits. Tompkins writes "Be brave, be strong enough to endure this, it says, and you will become like this--hard, austere, sublime." It is clear in the film that years of roaming the desert shaped Ethan into the hard, stern man he is. He has become one with the land, as is depicted in the final shot of the film when Ethan turns his back on home and its comforts, opting instead for the harsh, mysterious landscape. The ending music states "out there is peace of mind," suggesting that life on the open landscape is the only life that makes sense to Ethan and cowboys like him. The audience witnesses a similar transition within Martin's character. Years traversing the landscape with Ethan transformed Martin from an insecure farmboy into an assertive and brave man, much in the likeness of Ethan. This is evidenced numerous times when Martin begins challenging Ethan's authority towards the end of the film.
Another assertion by Tompkins is the idea that the land contains a "personhood that lurks beneath the landscape's surface" which suggests a sort of inherent consciousness possessed by the landscape. This idea is related in the film when Ethan discusses with the Jorgensens the loss of their son in the war. The father, Lars, rejects Ethan's notion that he is responsible for his son's death, and claims "It's this country killed my boy, yes by golly..." This suggests a sort of respect and fear of the landscape; a harsh landscape that often takes more than it provides.
It is the extreme challenges nature poses that shape the character of the cowboy that chooses to face them. Tompkins states numerous times that men in westerns imitate the land in order to acquire its traits. Tompkins writes "Be brave, be strong enough to endure this, it says, and you will become like this--hard, austere, sublime." It is clear in the film that years of roaming the desert shaped Ethan into the hard, stern man he is. He has become one with the land, as is depicted in the final shot of the film when Ethan turns his back on home and its comforts, opting instead for the harsh, mysterious landscape. The ending music states "out there is peace of mind," suggesting that life on the open landscape is the only life that makes sense to Ethan and cowboys like him. The audience witnesses a similar transition within Martin's character. Years traversing the landscape with Ethan transformed Martin from an insecure farmboy into an assertive and brave man, much in the likeness of Ethan. This is evidenced numerous times when Martin begins challenging Ethan's authority towards the end of the film.
Another assertion by Tompkins is the idea that the land contains a "personhood that lurks beneath the landscape's surface" which suggests a sort of inherent consciousness possessed by the landscape. This idea is related in the film when Ethan discusses with the Jorgensens the loss of their son in the war. The father, Lars, rejects Ethan's notion that he is responsible for his son's death, and claims "It's this country killed my boy, yes by golly..." This suggests a sort of respect and fear of the landscape; a harsh landscape that often takes more than it provides.
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