The Buckskin Line by Elmer Kelton (review)

46 4 WAL 3 4 .4 WINTER 2 0 0 0 tempted to argue about anthropomorphism) and shows us the natural world through the wild mind (the mind that knows snow storms can be intentional). Bass shows us nature from the center of its belly. Some hungers go beyond gluttony because they are never satis­ fied. In Where the Sea Used to Be, Bass cautions us about what can happen when an insatiable hunger-beyond-gluttony for nature’s riches devours our humanity. The Buckskin Line. By Elmer Kelton. New York: Forge, 1999. 287 pages, $22.95. Reviewed by Lew is Toland New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell Elmer Kelton faces two somewhat opposed audiences. His fans expect stories about the Texas frontier and ranching, while he gained academic respectability through The Time It Never Rained (1973); other novels, distinguished by the absence of the traditional, white, coming-of-age protagonists, solidified his reputation: The Day the Cowboys Quit (1971), The Good Old Boys (1978), and The Wolf and the Buffalo (1980). The Buckskin Line falls between these goals of sat­ isfying both fans and critics. In Buckskin, though, he returns to an orphaned young man torn between impulsiveness and self-denial. Rusty Shannon joins the thin line of Texas Rangers as Secession approaches. His leg wounded by an arrow, he recovers with the Unionist Lon Monahans, whose daughter rather easily becomes his intended. Kelton previously explored the Civil War quarrels in his more for­ mulaic fiction. Each young protagonist either supports the South or serves Texas by fighting Comanches rather than Yankees. The Buckskin Line resembles Texas Rifles (1998) and Stand Proud (1984) by empha­ sizing the protection of the Texas frontier. Bitter Trail (1999), Long Way to Texas (1976), and Dark Thicket (1985) vivify the vitriolic national­ ism of Confederates against Unionists, though Kelton carefully bal­ ances the faults of the majority and the minority. Two aspects elevate Buckskin above another frontier bildungsroman. First, he balances characters’ conduct according to what I term the “code of decency.” Although austere Secessionist Col. Caleb Dawkins self-righteously hangs Lon Monahans and his teenage son, he surrenders his own son to the Rangers for shaming the family by stealing horses. On the other side, Ranger Captain Burmeister cannot fight the nation to which he immigrated, so he resigns. Similarly, the young man known only by the name “Smith” fears to oppose Dawkins at the hanging, but he sorrow­ fully reports the lynchings to the survivors before he flees. Book Review s 465 Second, ordinary Protestant faith influences several characters much more prominently than in previous novels. Rusty respects Preacher Webb because “he withheld his sermons for the pulpit. His best preaching was done by example, living the kind of life he urged upon others” (64). News of a circuit rider’s arrival attracts both believ­ ers and others starved for social contact. The preacher generously per­ ceives what his flock resists: God saves whites and reds. After decades of fairly consistent neglect of frontier Christianity by novelists, Kelton develops the most commonly ignored, when not ridiculed, influence upon frontier life, which goes far to account for the optimism and humor of Texas pioneers. Much more than the thin buckskin line of Rangers sustained those settlers through their perils. Much like in The Wolf and the Buffalo, Slaughter (1992), and The Far Canyon (1994), in this novel Kelton develops a parallel plot from the Comanche viewpoint. Buffalo Caller rejoices over the slaughter of Texans in Victoria and Linnville, but he resists the inevitable triumph of superior technology, such resistance to change being a frequent Kelton theme. Just as Texans expect God to endorse westward expan­ sion, so this leader looks to the spirits to triumph. Caller’s death sym­ bolizes the loss of one civilization, while Rusty rescues Geneva so that they may build their new home in the West. D uke: The Life and Image of John Wayne. By Ronald L. Davis. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. 377 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by M ax W estbrook University of Texas at Austin Ronald Davis has researched and written an excellent biogra­ phy of a driven man. Readers will see the unfolding...