Bravery Finds Fate
Edward Abbey’s, The Brave Cowboy, introduces its reader to Jack Burns who does not connect or wish to conform to the “modern world.” He’s against governmental policies and modern civilization and wishes to go against the grain and live in his own freedom. The novel begins with statements that assure you of the bravery of this cowboy. He believes he is unstoppable from the second chapter on. We have a sense of his strength and tenacity from the very beginning; “Nothin’ can hurt me, I’m like water: boil me away and I come back in the next thunderhead.” (Abbey 30) As the story progresses and inevitable ends, the reader realizes that no matter how tough a person is; that can be no match for fate. Through the resistance of Burns and the inevitability of fate, one must ask …show more content…
Burns is running and running from the government, the law, and all things that are thought of to be right and true. He is trying his best to get away and he just happens to be racing over the same highway that Hinton is driving on right in the same moment that Hinton nods off to sleep because he is exhausted from driving for too long. Timing is everything and apparently, the fateful timing of when the two characters meet in this novel is just as it was going to play out all along. The protagonists meets his fate and the reader is left with burning questions in the back of their minds.
One reviewer of this novel once said, “I hated the ending, but there was no real other way to go about it. I don't know if the author had the ending planned from the beginning, or if he just wrote himself into a corner. There was no other way for it to end.” (Rebecca 22) Burns and his horse, Whiskey, are hit by a car at the end of the novel. His fate comes to an ultimate close. As he is continuing to run for his own beliefs and reasoning, a large “rig” driven by Hinton, hits him and his horse and leaves him completely
Edward Abbey’s, The Brave Cowboy, introduces its reader to Jack Burns who does not connect or wish to conform to the “modern world.” He’s against governmental policies and modern civilization and wishes to go against the grain and live in his own freedom. The novel begins with statements that assure you of the bravery of this cowboy. He believes he is unstoppable from the second chapter on. We have a sense of his strength and tenacity from the very beginning; “Nothin’ can hurt me, I’m like water: boil me away and I come back in the next thunderhead.” (Abbey 30) As the story progresses and inevitable ends, the reader realizes that no matter how tough a person is; that can be no match for fate. Through the resistance of Burns and the inevitability of fate, one must ask …show more content…
Burns is running and running from the government, the law, and all things that are thought of to be right and true. He is trying his best to get away and he just happens to be racing over the same highway that Hinton is driving on right in the same moment that Hinton nods off to sleep because he is exhausted from driving for too long. Timing is everything and apparently, the fateful timing of when the two characters meet in this novel is just as it was going to play out all along. The protagonists meets his fate and the reader is left with burning questions in the back of their minds.
One reviewer of this novel once said, “I hated the ending, but there was no real other way to go about it. I don't know if the author had the ending planned from the beginning, or if he just wrote himself into a corner. There was no other way for it to end.” (Rebecca 22) Burns and his horse, Whiskey, are hit by a car at the end of the novel. His fate comes to an ultimate close. As he is continuing to run for his own beliefs and reasoning, a large “rig” driven by Hinton, hits him and his horse and leaves him completely