In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Rance Stoddard come into Shinbone being the oddball. Tom Doniphon and Liberty Valance have already established their positions in the town. Where was Stoddard going to fit in?
Doniphon would be classified as hard boiled. He is not the ideal hero, he has some questionable morals, and he tends to isolate himself. He lives on a farm outside of town with Pompy, an African American, who is by his side almost always. Matheson comments that “Doniphon is callous, remorseless, and manipulative.” (896-897). She also says that both Valance and Doniphon solve their problems in the same manner (896). I do agree with this to some extenet. Valance goes looking for trouble while Doniphon tends to stay in the back drop and only acts when necessary. Doniphon doesn’t kill for the thrill of it, Valance does. However, Doniphon tends to stray away from the alpha male cowboy stereotype when Hallie comes into play. He lets the audience know his feelings for Hallie when we see that he is building onto his house for her. Hallie is Doniphon’s soft spot. Even though he has a soft spot, Matheson says that he “destroys his personal happiness by acting in good faith.” (897) This goes along with the duty-based ethics Matheson also makes reference too. Doniphon knows that Stoddard will lose to Valance yet the reason he kills Valance is the keep Hallie happy. Even though he doesn’t end up with her, he feels like it is his duty to protect her happiness.
Matheson says on page 892 “the dirtier their faces, the darker their hearts.” This is extremely true in Liberty Valance’s case. He was extremely grungy looking. Matheson makes a direct reference to Liberty Valance in her article on page 892. She says that he is “manipulatice, callous, remorseless, parasitic, pathological, liars with poor behavioral controls. I think that she hit the nail on the head with this one. When Liberty jumps Rance Stoddard in the beginning on the movie, he becomes so caught up in whipping Rance that his two sidekicks have to pull him away to stop him. This behavior is demonstrated when Liberty kill Peabody. He once again has to be dragged away from the body to stop whipping him. On 896 Matheson says “The individual does not enforce the law; he is the law.” Liberty Valance is the law in Shinbone. He has instilled a fear in everyone in the town so he can do whatever he wants. He has no morals or ethics.
When he first came to town, Rance Stoddard was all about the law. He would not be classified as hard boiled. He was the ideal Eastern American man. He was educated and was about the only man in town whom didn’t know how to shot a gun. Matheson says that “normal law-abiding citizens tend to find themselves enmeshed in situations that require them to become criminals.” (896) This is precisely what happened to Stoddard. At first he tried to convert the culture of the West into that of the East. He set up a school and let anyone who wanted to learn come in. Liberty Valance told him that when the sign he made came down, he would be leaving town. Stoddard tried to stay as true to him as he could. He put up with Valance’s banter and threats. He observed the inferiority that the marshal felt, seeing him run away from the restaurant as soon as he heard Valance’s voice. However, he realized that his way was not working in Shinbone. He decided to take up target practice. When push came to shove, Stoddard gave into the ways of Shinbone and Valance and put “himself outside the law.” (896) and “shot” Valance in cold blood. He succumbed to the ways he was preaching against.
In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance we are faced with two alpha male cowboys, Tom Doniphon and Liberty Valance. Both characters are existentialist cowboys but vary in their personalities. The cowboys are constantly being viewed against the educated, civilized Rance Stoddard.
ReplyDeleteDoniphon would be classified as hard boiled. He is not the ideal hero, he has some questionable morals, and he tends to isolate himself. He lives on a farm outside of town with Pompy, an African American, who is by his side almost always. Matheson comments that “Doniphon is callous, remorseless, and manipulative.” (896-897). She also says that both Valance and Doniphon solve their problems in the same manner (896). I do agree with this to some extenet. Valance goes looking for trouble while Doniphon tends to stay in the back drop and only acts when necessary. Doniphon doesn’t kill for the thrill of it, Valance does. However, Doniphon tends to stray away from the alpha male cowboy stereotype when Hallie comes into play. He lets the audience know his feelings for Hallie when we see that he is building onto his house for her. Hallie is Doniphon’s soft spot. Even though he has a soft spot, Matheson says that he “destroys his personal happiness by acting in good faith.” (897) This goes along with the duty-based ethics Matheson also makes reference too. Doniphon knows that Stoddard will lose to Valance yet the reason he kills Valance is the keep Hallie happy. Even though he doesn’t end up with her, he feels like it is his duty to protect her happiness.
Matheson says on page 892 “the dirtier their faces, the darker their hearts.” This is extremely true in Liberty Valance’s case. He was extremely grungy looking. Matheson makes a direct reference to Liberty Valance in her article on page 892. She says that he is “manipulative, callous, remorseless, parasitic, pathological, liars with poor behavioral controls. I think that she hit the nail on the head with this one. When Liberty jumps Rance Stoddard in the beginning on the movie, he becomes so caught up in whipping Rance that his two sidekicks have to pull him away to stop him. This behavior is demonstrated when Liberty kill Peabody. He once again has to be dragged away from the body to stop whipping him. On 896 Matheson says “The individual does not enforce the law; he is the law.” Liberty Valance is the law in Shinbone. He has instilled a fear in everyone in the town so he can do whatever he wants. He has no morals or ethics. Valance can be seen as a sociopath. He takes the villain of the Western to a whole new level.
When he first came to town, Rance Stoddard was all about the law. He would not be classified as hard boiled. He was the ideal Eastern American man. He was educated and was about the only man in town whom didn’t know how to shot a gun. Matheson says that “normal law-abiding citizens tend to find themselves enmeshed in situations that require them to become criminals.” (896) This is precisely what happened to Stoddard. At first he tried to convert the culture of the West into that of the East. He set up a school and let anyone who wanted to learn come in. Liberty Valance told him that when the sign he made came down, he would be leaving town. Stoddard tried to stay as true to him as he could. He put up with Valance’s banter and threats. He observed the inferiority that the marshal felt, seeing him run away from the restaurant as soon as he heard Valance’s voice. However, he realized that his way was not working in Shinbone. He decided to take up target practice. When push came to shove, Stoddard gave into the ways of Shinbone and Valance and put “himself outside the law.” (896) and “shot” Valance in cold blood. He succumbed to the ways he was preaching against.