Shane by Jack Shaefer
Shane by Jack Shaefer 1949 Bantam Books
[image error]I don’t normally read westerns but this is one I enjoyed. I only recall the movie because Alan Ladd was in it and the final scene where Bob calls for Shane to come back. That scene is not in the book.
Shane, a man with only one name, arrives at a farm where Joe and Marian are trying to establish a farm with other homesteaders. Across the river is a big rancher named Fletcher who wants the farmers gone so he can use their land for grazing. He’s already scared off Joe’s hired man.
The story is told through the eyes of their son, Bob, who doesn’t understand everything going on, but the reader puts the missing pieces together. Shane and Bob become friends. Although he knows Shane is dangerous, he isn’t to his family.
The story shows how the adults form bonds. Joe and Shane, without much talking, wrestle a big stump from the ground, cementing their partnership. Shane is happy to be a farmer, but he’s Joe’s equal. Marian loves her husband, but there is an unspoken connection with Shane. He loves her for accepting him as part of her family.
Fletcher returns to his ranch and begins trouble. His men intimidate Shane to leave, but he fights them, and Joe joins in. Marian is upset for Shane because he wants to escape his past of a gun fighter, but he was forced to fight for them.
Fletcher hires a gun fighter, Wilson, who kills one of the homesteaders. Joe plans to face Fletcher and Wilson, but Shane knocks him out and goes instead. He kills both in the saloon and then rides out of town.
Joe wants to leave the farm and start over, but Marian insists they stay because Shane is part of the farm he helped build while there.
Schaefer shows more about Shane by what he doesn’t say and do. Shane doesn’t carry a gun until the final showdown. He takes a beating but doesn’t let anyone beat him. He tells Bob that a man is who he is. He can’t walk away from being a killer – even in self -defense. He tells Bob to go home and grow strong and straight and take care of his parents. He is a hero and anti-hero.
Westerns have a standard moral: the good guy wins and the bad guy loses, but it takes death, fighting, beatings and self examination to get to the ending. A character like Joe, Shane, and Fletcher are in most Westerns. If you plan to write one, you should read this book.
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