George Bowering Murders Summary

The final three chapters of George Bowering’s Shoot! Are perhaps the most powerful. After a novel-worth of fighting and being reckless, the law finally catches up to the Mclean boys and Hare. The characterization of the McLean boys and Alex Hare is opposed throughout their court scene. These boys, who have always been described as wild, now appear to be so small and frightened. Through these scenes, we watch the court proceedings of children who killed in cold blood, yet we see some form of innocence within them. Despite these circumstances, it is difficult to not see the children within these men, as some of them are, in modern times, children. A greater understanding into the characters of Archie McLean and Alex Hare shows that the horrors

these boys forced Johnny Ussher to endure was, in fact a logical and adult decision, and not the work of a few boys who did not know what the consequences of their actions would be. The events that brought the “Wild McLean” (Bowering, 30) boys and Alex Hare to a courtroom in Kamloops, BC, and to prison in the British Columbia Penitentiary were quite evidently pre-meditated, and the court decisions were reasonable. Regardless of their age or questionable feelings of remorse, these young men made a decision, and by carrying out the law and being sentenced, the law is fully followed. However, if one was to view these circumstances through the eyes of the sentenced, justice has not been done, and there is still much left for these young men to do.
In the courtroom, the boys are presented as nothing more than guilty men with no excuse for what they did.

In a way, the novel accurately describes the court proceedings that would have happened to anyone at this time. Through these proceedings, we see the innocence in the young men, especially in Archie McLean and Alex Hare. These boys are the youngest and appear to be the most innocent men throughout the novel, which brings an insight into the reasoning behind their actions. Alex Hare, the man who, in court, defined his relationship with the McLean boys as “[picking his] friends poorly,” was in fact the man who delivered the fatal blow to Johnny Ussher (Bowering, 227). The McLean boys repeated through the court proceedings that they “did not kill Johnny Ussher… He killed [them],” (226). The McLeans and Hare almost contradict themselves within the court, claiming that they did not kill Ussher, as well as stating that they had something they needed to do and that Ussher was essentially a result of them doing what needed to be done. Charlie claims that the boys had something they needed to do that couldn’t be done from jail, and that is why there happened to be a fatality (227). Although the reader knows the extent of the boys’ characters and the reasoning behind the decision they made, the courts do not know such a thing. However, it is incredibly difficult to stand a fair trial when the defendant has been shot to death. With this knowledge, the courts produce the only

logical answer: guilty.
A vast majority of the novel is dedicated to characterizing these young men as they explored the vast desert that is Kamloops. Alex Hare, a man that cold easily be passed off as a sidekick, shows his true character at the beginning of chapter six, stating that “you see this here pistol? One of these days it’s going to make [him] rich” (56). Archie, speaking to Allan, showed his true character by telling to “have a drink... You’re not going to get killed.” (58). These men, known as the “McLean Gang,” (__) were frequently characterized as rough and tumble fellows who have no care for their own lives, let alone any regard for the lives of others. In fact, Archie McLean once told his sister that he would, “never make it to sixteen” (30). However, one can argue that the tough nature of these young men are actually a front for their genuine fear of the real world and the consequences for their actions. This is best shown in the court scene where Bowering makes a note of Archibald McLean’s “chin was [sic] moving” (226). With these completely incompatible opinions floating through the mind of the reader, it is easy for one to be confused or emotional at the outcome of the novel. This helps humanize the characters within it, and it helps the reader to understand that these characters actually existed, and that the conflictions are completely natural, because natural human emotion is in itself conflicted.
The idea of whether or not justice is served depends on which side of the law one chooses to situate themselves. To the Kamloops public, justice was certainly done; the bad people are caught, sentenced, and hanged. To the Wild McLeans, however, justice had certainly not been served. Charlie McLean, in court, proclaimed that “there was something [that they] had to do. [They] couldn’t do it in jail” (227). Evidently, the McLeans had unfinished business somewhere in the west; likely in Kamloops. As they leave court, Allan McLean assaults a man by the name of Palmer, and shouted, “send that to your partner Mara” (229). This is indicative of the next target the McLeans and Hare had planned. The men targeted were all men that the McLeans had gripes with. Of course they were going to shoot the sheriff, they’re the bad guys. The Sherriff, Ussher, however, treated the McLeans and their half-blood with little to no respect, and believed that they were nothing but troublemaking drunks. This prejudice did nothing more than fuel the McLeans’ distrust and hatred of the sheriff. Had the boys had the ability to murder John Anderw Mara, perhaps their own idea of justice would have been served.
Perhaps their own form of vigilante justice is not an immoral one.

Mara’s actions made him a despicable man, and because of their relationship to Mara - through him taking advantage of their sister, causing her, at fifteen, to become pregnant with an illegitimate child- the Mcleans and Alex Hare do not see their desires as anything more than looking out for their family. With this in mind, these boys could do no wrong, as they were only attempting to right the injustice that had happened towards their sister. Had they only been able to kill Mara for what he did to Annie McLean, perhaps they would have seen the outcome of their capture more justified. Once they were captured before they were able to finish their business, however, everything that occurred to them was injustice through their eyes. Alex Hare stated that, “Everybody’s been lying! [the Crown’s] goddamn witnesses sent their souls to hell! … Every word I’ve heard in this goddamn room has been a lie!” (227.) This shows that he truly believes that there is a great injustice being done to himself. As a man who had a proper upbringing of the time, it is strange to see Alex Hare as one of the MacLeans boys. His parents sent him to school, he was not an orphan, and there was almost no reason for him to follow men like the McLeans. He was, in essence, a spoiled young man with nothing better to do, and the hope that one day he could become famous. Alex Hare acted out throughout the court proceedings, and because of this it

is incredibly default for one to see his character as anything more than what the jury would see hm: a spoiled half-breed. In a final contest against the court proceedings, Alex Hare turns his back to the judge, much like a child would do to a parent that they believed was treating them unfairly.
The Wild McLeans and Alex Hare grew up in a time very different than the society that the modern reader is placed in. Readers today will not understand the cultural context that these boys are placed in. Nor will they understand the differences that were placed on a half-white and half-native individual. We will not know what it is like to have decisions made for us because we are seen as too incompetent to make them ourselves, nor will we know what it is like to walk around the rogue streets of wild wild west Kamloops, British Columbia. These experiences are not part of the modern reader’s perspective, which makes it incredibly easy for one to see the McLeans as nothing but a group of young hooligan men with nothing better to do.
Because of the circumstances surrounding the decisions that the Wild McLeans made, I personally do not feel as though the McLeans and Hare would believe that justice had been served. Although the law was followed, justice has not been done in the eyes of the McLeans and Alex Hare. The court proceedings led to a fair trial; or as fair as a trial can be with a dead body as the persecution, and a group of half-breeds in the defense.