Themes In The Authentic Life Of Billy The Kid

The three components making up the mythic west are important in their own right. The West as an abysmal failure, though, I placed higher on the totem pole than the other categories. Abysmal failure is due to the people’s dashed hopes, broken dreams, financial ruin, or even tragic death at the hands of brutal bad guys or unrelenting forces of nature, and the dark side lurking in the shadows. The concept of abysmal failure is seen in the forefront of most sources representing the American West. Published in 1882, Pat Garrett’s novel, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, tells us his story on the life and death of Billy the Kid, who he ended his life in the latter half of the novel. Although there are concepts of the west as a Garden of Eden …show more content…
“Yes, Starrett. Think it over. You wouldn’t like someone else to be enjoying this place of yours – and that woman there in the window.” The Hollywood film, Young Guns, directed by Christopher Cain in 1988, is another representation of the abysmal failure of the American West. Failure is the most dominant concept represented throughout the film. The movie also brings out the dark side (an ultimate abysmal failure through a certain eye set) of politics involved in the American West lifestyle, as quoted through the …show more content…
200 people butchered in the snow with their stomachs empty. My mother’s people. You see, Murphy was under government contract to supply us with beef, but two winters ago, he sent only rotten meat. No corn, no flour, just rancid beef crawling with worms. A few of my men and I set out to camp in the middle of the night to try and get food. Oh yeah, they welcomed us in, and then they fired at us. I got away, only me. But when I got back to the Red Sands, I found out that the army had already heard about our big Indian uprising and they paid us back. My mother was cut by a saber from her privates to her neck. My sisters were just babies, and they had their heads bashed in with boot heels so the army could save bullets. Everyone at the reservation was butchered and it means nothing to me? Oh yeah, I went into Lincoln to take Murphy’s head. And that’s when John Tunstall found me, and he took me in, and he taught me a better way to bury Murphy.” The silent film, The Great Train Robbery, also is a different source relating to the abysmal failure of the American West. This 1902 film that is primarily representing the myth of abysmal failure. Between the multiple injuries