Term Paper on "Riders of the Purple Sage -- Mormon"

Term Paper 3 pages (1080 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Riders of the Purple Sage -- Mormon Romance in the Wild West

According to John G. Cawelti: "the element that most clearly defines the Western is the symbolic landscape in which it takes place and the influences this landscape has on the character and actions of the hero" (193). Author Zane Grey's 1912 novel Riders of the Purple Sage uses the conventions of the Western, and the wide-open, lawless landscape of the Western territories to tell a tale of how the religious conventions of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons, clash with the desires of the central protagonists Bern Venters and Jane Withersteen. The Mormons have a clearly defined set of laws and teachings. They disdain outsiders, but the contact between the outsider Bern Venters and the Mormon woman Jane Withersteen illustrates that the land can teach both Mormons and 'Gentiles' (non-Mormons) the values of self-reliance, the values of caring for others, and the values of depending on other people, regardless of their religious persuasion.

The beginning of the story shows an individual in conflict with society, and upholds individual rights above the rights of the community. What is so immediately striking about the novel is that a woman, Jane Withersteen, rather than a man, is at the center of the drama about land control and land ownership, and while the Mormons themselves were considered to be outsiders, even outlaws, by the federal government, because of the practice of polygamy, Withersteen's rejection of this practice, which she sees as an enslavement of a woman to male desires, makes her a pariah in the community. For Jane to tend her ranch, and to be able to care for her land only an outsider, Bern Venters will support her in her struggle.

The ability of an outsider foster prosperity and independence within the Mormon community, and the beauty as well as the peril posed the lawless landscape that contrasts with the corruption of the law, underlines how the land forges and creates relationships in the novel, and fosters both female and male independence. Jane's ranch and Venters confidence as a ranch hand establishes a bond between gentiles and Mormons. It creates a sense of self-confidence for Jane, so she can defy the Mormon elders, and enables Bern to prove his usefulness and capability on a horse. The transcendence of religious barriers through a love and need to rely upon the land for economic survival sows the seeds for the love Jane will later feel for Lassiter and will enable her to make a clean break away from the society that hems her in, and find true love.

At the beginning of the novel Jane is hated by the elders because of her refusal to marry Tull, a polygamist and leading figure of the church, at the request of her now deceased father. Land gives Jane independence, and creates ties between her economic means of survival and the outsiders. Although Lassiter is feared as an outlaw, the representatives of the law, as is typical in Westerns, are far worse in their behavior towards others than the law-breakers. Not only is Lassiter a good man, but even the feared Masked Rider and rustler is actually a decent, gentle young woman named Bess.

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