The Untamed Frontier In Hondo

Hondo is my favorite western, although it is the only one I have read that has nothing to do with it. It has all of the requirements to be a western, the type of western that focuses on the untamed frontier. I mean it has conflicts between the settlers and the Indians, open landscape of mountain ranges, rugged lands, and vast plains; all with with small towns (or town) and isolated homesteads. Plus the parts of the untamed frontier such as, hostile environments, shoot outs, show downs, and the classic good guy v.s bad guy. Now there is one part of the western that is uncanny between all of them, the hero, the skilled gunfighter that we all root for, the manly, courageous, tough, and honorable man that everyone wants to win. This hero is know as Hondo, the man of skills, he can blacksmith, lasso, track, handle horses, and of course killing. Now lets go deep into were each of these characteristics and really look at who or what they are in this story.

Untamed frontier, well just look at the beginning of the book, Hondo is standing in the burning sun on the desert that he had to learn for years to master living in, just the terrain had made him a hard man, with little regard for human life.

Actually that came from another characteristic of a western, the conflict between settlers and Indians, after being raised with the Indians for three years he had killed several settlers. Then after he had left the Indians side to join the white mans army he killed many more Indians, that's how he had crafted his skills as a gunman and survivalist. It even is shown in the story that he has been killing for years, when he kills the first two Indians, he has a fast and accurate shooting style. Also he has the background to know were others may be hiding such as in a bush, or

tree.

Also in Hondo there is a big part surrounding the isolation of settlers homesteads, which is were Angie and Johnny live. It is far from the nearest post, but also far from the nearest Indian camp, truly isolated in the fact of if someone died there, no one would hear them scream. Then there is also the "small town" know as the army settlement, it has most of the means to be a town. It has a main street, which is the only street, a jail, a stable, a saloon and a general store. With what we consider settlers, cowboys wearing spurs, boots, bandanas, denim, and of course there gun, no western is complete without ninety percent of everyone having a gun. These cowboys were hired to do several other things, such as be scouts, like Hondo, for the army. And allot of these men were involved in the number one thing a western needs in my opinion, shoot-outs, show-downs, and fist fights. Just like when Hondo beat the ever living piss out of Ed Lowe in the bar, Buffalo could have easily joined in if he pleased. Hell that whole bar could have joined in, no one would care, but they did not.

Now lastly, there is the part that involves Hondo the most out of anyone else, the concept of a hero. Now Hondo my not be a sheriff, or a marshal, or a cowboy, but he is one hell of a gunfighter. That's all we need in a western novel, someone we wish we could be, someone who seems untouchable, someone that could kill the real us in as instant. Now this hero cannot be anyone, oh no, he has to meat the criteria. He must be courageous, running into danger for the ones who matter, but not being foolish about it. Like when Hondo killed the two Indians by the river the second time, he snuck up on them and then charged. He must be masculine, which means, having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men, especially strength and aggressiveness. Who has more of this than Hondo, the man is over flowing with the stuff of legends, if anyone's wife saw him in real life, they may not be married anymore. He must also be tough, like burning your hands on charcoal and shaking it of a day later tough. Which is what Hondo did. Now the skill set of the hero has to be towering. Well just to show how much Hondo can do, lets list the skills he has; blacksmithing, handling horses, fishing, hunting, surviving, gunplay, fist fighting, agility,sneaking, communication, and of course love. now you may argue that love is not a skill, that its just something that happens, you are right. But, loving someone is hard work, sometimes you have to do something that pains you to keep them happy, and that to me is more important than the rest of the list of skills, loving is the hardest thing to do.

Now that I have shown you all the different criteria that is needed to be a western novel, and explained were or who that criteria is in Hondo. You can be the judge of if it can make the status quo. You can answer the question. What's the question you ask? Is Hondo a Western in your eyes, and is it the best western as formally stated by my opinion? I can only answer for myself, now go read that book. I gave you the basis of what you need to know you have to go do some in depth reading.