PS "The Man Who Shot Liberty"

In the movie “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” three main characters are met. Two are alpha male cowboys and the other a lawyer named Stoddard. One of the alpha male cowboys named Tom Doniphon is the typical ideal cowboy. I believe Sue Matheson would agree with this according to her article. In the movie he finds Stoddard hurt and rescues him and helps to heal him. Doniphon shows his heroic side of the cowboy during this point. Matheson says, “heros…are not ‘stained, grimy, or disheveled in the style of the rough, unmannered villains. Heros may be dusty, but not dirty. Their clothes may be worn, but greasy. They seldom sweat. Above all, they have always just shaved.’” (892) Doniphon fits that description right down to a tee. He is clean cut and shaven with his close being a tad worn, typical for a cowboy. Doniphon calls Stoddard a pilgrim for being new and follows the laws of the gun. There is no such thing as laws, a cowboy settles his problem with the gun and Doniphon explains this to Stoddard. Matheson says, “moral individualism and pervasive corruption are closely linked…Tom Doniphon enlightens Stoddard about the nature of the frontier. He says, ‘You’d better start packing a handgun…I know those law books mean a lot to you, but not out here. Out here a man settles his own problems.’” (896) He shows a man settling his own problems when he sticks up to Liberty Valance, the other cowboy who is feared by everyone. Doniphon is the only one who does not fear him and is not afraid to go at Valance. Doniphon does have a soft side and does try to teach Stoddard how to shoot a gun that way he can protect himself. Being a cowboy Doniphon is one of the best shooters around. Matheson states “Only the fittest, the strongest, and the most ruthless survive in the noir frontier, those who like Tom Doniphon draw a gun faster than anyone else.” (891) Matheson shows how not all cowboys are perfect and this is seen when Doniphon gets jealous of Stoddard and Miss Hallie. Doniphon lets his anger get the best of him as he gets drunk and burns down the house. “Doniphon could have secured his relationship with Hallie by standing aside and letting Valance kill Stoddard, or by standing aside and allowing Stoddard to return to the East, but he does not. Instead, Doniphon destroys his personal happiness by acting in good faith.” (897)
Liberty Valance is other alpha male cowboy. Matheson believes Valance is a severely disable psychopath. Valance is “manipulative, callous, remorseless, parasitic, pathological liars with poor behavioral controls. Ironically their disordered personalities, which disable them socially, enable them professionally.” (892) Though this may seem harsh it however is all true to who Valance is and what he did throughout the entire movie. Valance beat, abused, and murdered people all for no reason. Matheson go into further description of Valance by talking about his clothing. “Wearing a black hat and an elaborately embroidered vest over a long-sleeved white shirt and brown trousers, he appears to be a dandy dressed for a part in a drama…he too never changes his clothes….Valance does not signal his bestial nature by dressing in an animal’s skins.” (895) Valance tries to appear tough and flamboyant in his clothes. He never changes them so they stay dirty and the dark colors signal he is not a good man. “He simply does not walk like a human being; the outlaw lumbers about like an ape with his silver-headed cat-o’-nine tails while flouting all that ‘civilized’ America holds dear: good posture, acceptable table manners, the sanctity of womanhood, law and order, freedom of speech, and most of all, the democratic process itself.”(895) Valance does not conduct himself like a normal human being nor follow the code of the civilized American. He acts out of the norm by the way he acts. Doniphon more fits the description of the code. Matheson sums up valance by saying “Simply put, Valance’s behavior is beastly. Interrupted while robbing a widow…the outlaw savagely beats Ransom Stoddard and snarls, ‘I’ll teach you law-Western law.’ As valance demonstrates, in the west, might is right.” (895) Valance acts like an animal and treats people horribly. He wants people to know he is the law and that’s it.
Matheson talks about Ransom Stoddard saying he is “a rather naïve and gullible idealist, what Westerners would term a greenhorn, Stoddard expects the west to be a place where ‘civilized’ values are respected.” (896) Stoddard is unaware of the current condition in the west so when he travels there he is immediately someone who sticks out. He wants to change the ways of the West, but to do so he will have to embrace some Western “law.” “In spite of his protests, Stoddard becomes just like Shinbone’s residents. He too has to settle his problem with Valance like ‘ a man.’ In doing so, like Valance, he places himself outside of the law.” (896) Matheson also points out that Stoddard analyzes everything including “there really is very little difference between Doniphon and Liberty Valance.” (896)
I generally agree with Matheson’s assessments of all the characters. I think she does a good job describing them and for the most part I saw the same sort of things when I watched the movie. When she talks about Stoddard’s comment about there being little difference between Valance and Doniphon, I have to disagree with that. Yes, “both men settle their problems in the same fashion…individual does not enforce the law; he is the law. Doniphon…is unquestionably his own moral center because he can do what Stoddard cannot—live with the face that he cold-bloodedly murdered another human being. Doniphon may wear a white hat…but like Valance, he too exhibits a highly antisocial and disordered personality. Like Valance, Doniphon is callous, remorseless, and manipulative.” (897-897) This quote does not make them the same people. Doniphon does a lot of good, as seen in the movie he saves Stoddard and helps him with everything either with a gun or getting a vote in politics. Valance has no good; everything he does is bad and just for him. Doniphon is just following the rules of the west, because of where he lives he needs to be quick and the best. Most people back then should not have remorse for killing a bad guy. The things that they did back then were so horrific. I do not really see how Doniphon was antisocial either. Everyone in town knew him and he would talk to them. He might not have been the most social guy, but he absolutely was not anti social. Just because he has no remorse for killing Valance does not mean he is remorseless either. He was extremely remorseful at first when he lost Miss Hallie to Stoddard. Certain instances of negativity are being picked here and that’s not fair to Doniphon. Everyone has a negative characteristic once and a while, let’s not jump on it and characterize someone for it unfairly.