The Searchers by Alan Le May
Perhaps no genre of film or fiction is as uniquely and classically American as the Western. Wikipedia defines the Western as:
[A] genre of fiction set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the Western United States, which is styled the "Old West". Its stories commonly center on the life of a nomadic cowboy or gunfighter armed with a revolver and a rifle who rides a horse. Cowboys and gunslingers typically wear Stetson hats, neckerchief bandannas, vests, spurs, cowboy boots, and buckskins (alternatively dusters). Recurring characters include the aforementioned cowboys, Native Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, bandits, lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, gamblers, soldiers (especially mounted cavalry, such as buffalo soldiers), and settlers (farmers, ranchers, and townsfolk).
All of the elements contained in this description are present within Alan Le May’s book.
When I decided to add fiction titles to my course on the American story, I somehow neglected to add any Westerns, which I later realized was a major oversight. If the goal of this project is to not only obtain a proper understanding of American history but also American character, then a survey of some of the most well-regarded and classic novels of the Old West had to be included.
I consulted a number of online lists and reviews and settled on a half dozen or so titles to include in between the presidential biographies and non-fiction historical works. I then sorted them into my list in rough chronological order of the time they are set in. And so we find ourselves with the first on our list, Alan Le May’s The Searchers, set just a few years after the conclusion of the Civil War and ending somewhere around 1873.
Of course, the film is much more well-known than the original source material. It’s considered by many to be one of John Wayne’s finest roles as well as one of director John Ford’s greatest movies as well.
The story follows two men, Mart and Amos, on their long search for a young girl, Debbie, kidnapped in a raid by Comanche warriors on a lonely Texas homestead.
The search ends up taking the pair on a years-long journey throughout the Southwest and takes a toll both physical and emotional on both men, especially Amos.
“Then Amos’ rifle split the silence down the middle, so that behind lay the quiet night, and ahead rose their hour of violence.”
The story itself is based primarily on the real-life abduction of 10-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker in 1836. Stolen from her family during a violent raid outside their Texas home on the headwaters of the Navasota River, the Parker clan lived on the edge of known civilization, just outside Comanche country.
In Le May’s book, just as in real-life, Debbie (Le May’s stand-in for Cynthia Ann), has been completely transformed during her captivity, no longer wishing to return to the world of the white settlers. This so unsettles Amos, it leads to a violent confrontation at the story’s climax.
I also loved Le May’s dialogue. Though stylized, Amos’ quotes, in particular, had that terrific, stoic bite that seems endemic to the genre’s best characters. Case in point:
“This is a rough country,” Amos was saying. “It’s a country knows how to scour a human man right off the face of itself. A Texan is nothing but a human man way out on a limb. This year, and next year, and maybe for a hundred more. But I don’t think it’ll be forever. Someday this country will be a fine good place to be. Maybe it needs our bones in the ground before that time can come.”
So good.
Upon completing the book, I re-watched Ford’s film, which I hadn’t seen in years. Though it’s considered a stone-cold classic, I personally felt the book was much better. It’s darker, grittier, more complex. Though the movie should be considered in the context of its time, after all, it presented a relatively complex protagonist in Amos, the book is simply far more sophisticated and satisfying. I loved the depictions of the unforgiving American Southwest that our heroes endlessly traverse, and admired the stubborn tenacity of their seemingly hopeless search.
The Searchers is a great introduction to the world of the Western, its story a classic depiction of one of America’s enduring myths, and valuable contribution to my journey through America’s past.