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Shane (novel)

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For other uses, see Shane.

Shane
Current bantam edition cover
AuthorJack Schaefer
LanguageEnglish
GenreWestern
PublisherHoughton Mifflin
Publication date
1949
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages214 p. (hardback first edition) & 119 p. (paperback edition)
ISBNISBN 978-0-553-27110-2 (paperback edition) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
OCLC53183237

Shane is a 1949 western book by Jack Schaefer. It is often considered his greatest novel.

Characters

  • Shane – the traveller and ex gunfighter, a mysterious gunman who enters into the life of Joe Starrett and his family and carves a place for himself in their hearts. Although he tries to leave his gunslinging past behind, refusing to even carry a gun, he decides to fight Fletcher and Wilson, the town enemies, in order to save Joe Starrett's farm. After he kills Fletcher and Wilson, he feels he must leave the town forever. (There is an unstated implication that he may be dying, as he departs.)
  • Joey Starrett – farmer's boy who befriends Shane, Joey takes the reader out of the realm of adulthood. Looking at Shane and life through his eyes allows a different perspective; it is one of awe and reverence and one tempered by the boyishness of the Old West. Joey fancies guns and pretends to shoot Indians. He is a good boy, but his character is by no means developed. The impact Shane has on him is observable throughout and is probably greater than Shane's impact on any one other person. Shane cared about everyone in the Starrett family. Before Shane came along, Joey used to admire Fletcher and his men. After meeting Shane, Joey has a completely new definition of what it means to be a real hero and finally has a real role model to fill that spot. Joey learns that being a man is not about toting guns or asserting dominance over others. He learns that being a man is about doing the right thing, and he looks to Shane time and time again for demonstration. Shane also affirms Joey's opinion about his father. Joey sees Shane's deep respect and loyalty to Joe, and Joey knows that his father is not like Fletcher's men, but is more like Shane—respectable and a true hero.
  • Joe Starrett – Joey's father, a Wyoming farmer who develops a rare and strong friendship with Shane. Joe is the understated hero of the book. Next to most people, he is a dominant respectable force—people often look to him as a hero. The only person who dwarfs Joe is Shane, but Joe is secure enough in his manhood that he never exhibits any jealousy toward Shane. He acknowledges that Shane is a better man and exhibits love for Shane and not resentment for all his good qualities. This knowledge makes him want to glean as much from Shane as possible—his companionship, his friendship, his hard work at the farm. Joe's immediate embracing of Shane and Shane's character demonstrates that Joe knows a good man when he sees one and explains why he will not let Shane slip away. Like Shane, Joe comes through as well, even rescuing Shane from a dangerous situation. The relationship between them is mutual—they both give and take from each other in an easy, egalitarian fashion. Their relationship is based on their being tandem characters, who possess the same values.
  • Luke Fletcher – one of the main antagonists of the story. He is out to claim all the land he can, regardless of who already occupies it.
  • Marian Starrett – Joe Starrett's wife, she remains mutual friends with Shane throughout the novel but secretly longs for romance with him which they discuss in a round-a-bout sort of way.
  • Chris – one of Fletcher's followers, whom Shane beat up at the bar. He later asks to work for Joe, realizing the error in Fletcher's ways.
  • Stark Wilson – Fletcher's gunman. Most likely hired to stop Shane.

Quotes

  • "'Call me Shane.'" --Shane
  • "'You wouldn't have. Not where you come from. He's a special brand we sometimes get out here in the grass country. I've come across a few. A bad one's poison. A good one's straight grain clear through.'" --Joe Starrett
  • "'A man is what he is, Bob, and there's no breaking the mold. I tried that and I've lost. But I reckon it was in the cards from the moment I saw a freckled kid on a rail up the road there and a real man behind him, the kind that could back him for the chance another kid never had.'" --Shane
  • '"Yes," said Mr. Weir. "He's alive all right. Wilson got to him. But no bullet can kill that man." A puzzled, faraway sort of look flitted across Mr. Weir's face. "Sometimes I wonder whether anything ever could."' --Mr. Weir
  • '"Yes, Starrett. Think it over. You wouldn't want someone else to be enjoying this place of yours--and that woman there in the window."' --Stark Wilson
  • '"I brought that for Bob. I'm a poor substitute, Starrett. But as soon as this arm's healed, I'm asking you to let me work for you."' --Chris
  • '"Not fit for travelling. Starrett, you're poor shakes as a liar."' --Shane
  • “What a man knows isn’t important. It’s what he is that counts." -- Joe Starrett
  • "Shane's got his gun!" -- Bob Starrett
  • “A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that." -- Shane

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

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