The Ox-Bow Incident

People respond differently to situations, depending on their morals. In The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, the town's people's morals are shown through their reactions to hearing about Kinkaid’s murder. A messenger tells the men about Kinkaid being shot and his cattle taken. They form a posse and kill the men they think are responsible. The sheriff tells them they killed the wrong people. Stricken by grief, two men responsible for hanging the other men kill themselves as well. The posse is not thinking clearly and rationally because they are emotional. People’s cattle have been stolen over the past few days, and they just found out a person they knew has been killed. Kinkaid’s death blinds the posse with emotions, causing them to carry out poor decisions, while trying to receive justice. The men try to leave immediately when they hear rustlers shot Kinkaid. They did not think through about how they are going to find the men or get justice. A couple of older men around town know the best way to proceed is to form an organized group and…

The Ox-Bow incident is a book that portrays life in the dark-side of the west. A cloudy story where thieves have taken the animals from a small cattle town Bridger’s Wells. Which then leads of the murder of Kinkaid which led to the lynching of three innocent men. In which the three innocent men were “guilty” in the eyes of the men in the valley. The three innocent people were hung without a requested trial. This novel as well speaks on the issues of law, justice, crime and punishment. There are…

When we witness a noticeably bad action occurringhappen, we as people are faced with a fundamental decision. Do we avoid the problem or stand up and take action. All too frequently individuals make the conscious choice to remain a "bystander", separating themselves from the problems of others. Whether it be to remain part of a group, garner acceptance, avoid being targeted, for self-preservation, or simply for convenience, the conscious choice of inaction is a common occurrence. In literature,…

Artemis committed murder of the first degree against Orion by shooting him through the heart with a silver arrow that she was entrusted to by her by her father; therefore, she should serve 40 years in prison according the Code of Virginia Law. Orion was born in ox hide created by Zeus. A Greek farmer named Hyrieus, asked the gods for a son. He was a good man and did everything right. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hermes agreed to this and created a baby boy her Hyrieus. Since Orion was created by the gods…

In Storm Warning (Stuart Heisler, 1951), a film about the Ku Klux Klan, the victims of the KKK”S cruelty are played by white women, incorrectly displaying who the real victims of violent white supremacy groups were. Hollywood missed a valuable opportunity to shed light on the dangers African Americans faced in American society. Also, in the film Ox Bow Incident (William A. Wellman, 1943), the main character is not played by an African American actor, he is played by a white actor, Henry Fonda,…

needed to inform the American public about the war and Allies, but also it needed to inspire and unify Americans to fight. Franklyn D. Roosevelt identified allied war aims with democracy’s four freedoms in his famous Four Freedoms Speech. However, the freedoms the President announced were far from being satisfied at home, which gave the OWI a big challenge. The OWI played a crucial role in shaping opinions about the war in black community. Even though OWI and black leaders hoped to work together…