Who Is Ransom Stoddard In The Outcasts Of Poker Flat?
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The literature discussed in the last quarter this year focused on a Western style. Whether the short stories read included stock characters such as, a hero, villain, bartender, and cowboy, the way in which the writers or directors formed their writing style, were able to incorporate a western theme. For this reason, throughout the three Westerns, it is seen that people who do not fit into society are rejected, isolated, or forced to abandon their non-traditional values in order to preserve society’s original form and at sometimes conform to it.
In the first short story read that included many of the stock characters of a Western, “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” many of the characters were thrown out because they did not fit into the “moral”…show more content… Ransom Stoddard, a man of the law and reason, tries to remove the rebel, Liberty Valance from the town of Shinbone, however; he’s conflicted to conform to a society which doesn’t govern itself by law but by physical assertion of vigilante justice. Ransom’s ability to leave behind his moral values brought about change to the town of Shinbone were now the laws of society controlled the people. Before Stoddard, Liberty Valance, represented the old Western values, of strength and vigilante, that were once appreciated by the town of Shinbone, but now are viewed as morally wrong, which is the reason why Valance dies in the end. As Hallie stated, “Look at it. Once it was a wilderness. Now it's a garden. Aren't you proud?” Hallie who had years later become a very proper and literate woman, expressed how Stoddard was able to change the town of Shinbone from an unlawful, disorganized community to a garden full of law and order. Though the townspeople were at first skeptical of Ransom’s interruption in the community of Shinbone, the people were able to first respect him and then able to conform and open up to the moral values and laws that our nation bases itself…show more content… For example, when McMurphy first arrived in the ward he was able to gain the attention of other patients that had given up or had lost all form of fighting power over Nurse Ratched. Though McMurphy surrendered every bit of strength left in him, he did it in order for the others to regain their masculinity and strength, that would in the end cure them or the Big Nurse’s psychological control. Kensey described how society humiliates those who do not conform in one way or another to the point that, rather than be seen as unique or diverse, they are seen as “broken” or “sick.” Non-conformity is seen as a sickness, and those who do not fit into society are dangerous, and must be secluded and sheltered from “regular” society. McMurphy was able to change that idea, to allow those who at first were to scared to fight have the opportunity to voice their opinion., and belittle the power of the