Relationships Between The Virginiagerian, By Owen Wister

Owen Wister develops relationships between the Virginian and many of the other characters. By doing this he shows how friendships either form or are never thought of. Some of the relationships are the Judge, Molly, and Trampas. The Virginian’s relationship with the Judge and Molly are good relationships, but the one with Trampas is not. His relationship with the Judge becomes a friendship because the Judge finds him trustworthy. Molly also becomes a friend of the Virginian because he is trustworthy, but the friendship, which later becomes a bond between the two of them, is made because the Virginian is a gentleman. Finally, from the beginning, the Virginian and Trampas were enemies. This shows a non-friendship that started at the two …show more content…
This friendship is present because of trust. At first the Virginian is only a cowboy who works on a ranch, but he is later hired by the Judge as foreman. At this point the Judge trusts the Virginian greatly. The reason the Virginian is a trustworthy worker is because he he gets his job done efficiently. He also takes it upon himself to never abuse his power. He wants to have employees under him, but he does not want overpower his workers. The Judge has a good and trusting friendship with the Virginian. The Virginian’s workers have this same kind of relationship with the Virginian in the sense that they trust him and that they love that he does not try to crush them with the power that he has. The next friendship that forms is a different kind of …show more content…
Trampas and the Virginian first encounter through a gambling game. Trampas gets upset with the Virginian and insults him with an insult that was not acceptable at the time except among good friends. When Trampas uses this insult, the Virginian tells him, “When you call me that, smile!”(pp. 29-30). From that moment on the two characters were enemies. This shows that friendships do not always form and that relationships between characters does not always mean friendships. Trampas’ and the Virginian’s relationship stays the same through the whole book and because of this the Virginian ends up having to kill Trampas. Even though this relationship was a bad one, it was necessary for the progression of the story. Owen Wister develops this relationship for this reason. The relationship between Trampas and the Virginian also helps to develop other relationships in the story. When the Virginian decides to face Trampas, Molly says that she is going to leave the Virginian. However, when he kills Trampas and returns to Molly she can’t stay away from