Response

This story had many western ideas, images, and places that provoke the feeling of a “western.” From the sawed-off shotgun on the first page, to the Mexican standoff at the very end this story had many “western” images. My favorite thing that went on in this story was the interview sessions in which they questioned the potential thieves. The result is pure comedy. You have Doc who is the brains of the operation, you have the narrator, a poet, a man (or a woman depending on who in the party you ask), and you have and intellectual. The party is very odd, but well formed, each character with his, or her own idiosyncratic breadcrumb to add in. Some things did not add up however. I was thrown off by the fact that Doc had a car. Also that he was well shaven at the start. “Up close you could see his shining bardlike face shaving nicks…” Cowboys always ride on horses, and are always scruffy. With this added comedic party though, couldn’t it also be considered a comedy? Chandler shows many different ways to look at a text and how all of them seem rational and defendable. It’s getting more and more difficult to segregate somethings as just one thing. Take the movie Serenity for example. This is a sci-fi western. The purpose of genre is to tell the audience the types of things that are to be expected. For instance if you don’t like science fiction, you probably won’t like things that involve aliens, time travel, lasers, or anything involving space. Purpose although is almost as abstract as the idea of genre in and of itself. Purpose is what society deems it, and as being defined by a variable so does the definition change.