Essay On The Preacher's Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse

Gottman’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse The pale rider symbolizes Death from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Bible. Interestingly enough, the pale rider also symbolizes stonewalling from Gottman’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Even though the pale rider represents these two deadly things, he can also be seen as the conqueror of Death, especially for the people of Carbon Canyon. (Chapman 1985). The pale rider of the film is the mysterious Preacher. The other characters and even the audience do not know much about the Preacher except for the little hints of his past that still haunts him. This mysteriousness that embodies him gives him power during times of conflict in the film since he is somewhat able to control the situations.

The Preacher probably forms avoidant attachments throughout his life which means that he does not deal well with intimacy, however, the people from Carbon Canyon forms an anxious attachment to the Preacher which means they fear that they will be abandoned or rejected. According to a study, “attachment avoidance is a significant predictor only for stonewalling”; this stands true regarding to the preacher since he is a very closed off person (Fowler & Dillow, 2011, p.23). The attachment that the people from Carbon Canyon formed with him could have evened out his own kind of attachment, meaning that he became invested enough in their wellbeing that he is willing to confront his past to help them along. The Preacher gets past his stonewalling towards the end when he becomes the conqueror of death for the citizens of Carbon Canyon, but the bringer of death for LaHood and his men. At the end, it is revealed that Stockburn and the Preacher had some sort of conflict before. The Preacher uses surprise to his advantage since he was aware that Stockburn was involved with the conflict between the miners, but Stockburn was unaware of his current existence. The surprise is what eventually kills Stockburn since he was too stunned to shoot the Preacher first. After Stockburn dies, a part of the Preacher’s past problems is