Shane And Joe Starrett: Selflessness

There are those in the world who would risk their lives for those worth living. Selflessness is a good trait to have, putting others before yourself. However, some people take it to the extreme, even risking their own lives to help save those of others. Most people take it to the point of giving away their food to help those who aren’t fortunate enough to have any, or by doing kind actions like giving away clothes. “If the cause is great, one will often neglect his own needs and wants to better provide for the needs and wants of others.”
In this novella, Shane and Joe Starrett both show countless amounts of selflessness in the need of Marian. They both commit these acts in hopes that Marian and Joe (or Marian and Shane) can have a happier, better life together. In the novella, Joe is even willing to sacrifice his own marriage up for Marian to live with Shane, for he feels that perhaps she would be happier with him whereas Joe could acknowledge Shane was a better man so he would let her do the deciding. Later in the novella, Shane risks his life to go tussle with Fletcher and Wilson, so that …show more content…
He risked his life countless times to try to provide a better and more stable life for the Starrett family, even though many of these actions had terrible repercussions. One repercussion from Shane's actions was having Wilson appear, and he decided to confront Wilson and Fletcher instead of having Joe do it (he knocked Joe out before) as he cared for their family and couldn't have borne not having Joe care for Marian and Bob. After Shane's encounter with Fletcher and Wilson, he knew he’d have to leave town seeing as he didn't want to let Bob know he was a murderer. As a result he felt it made him less of a man, and that Bob was more of a man than him. Before Shane left, he made sure to tell Bob to look up to his father being he was an exceptional and hearty man, and that Bob should grow up to become like