Sweet n Sexy Divas

The Cowboys of the Far West and the Cowboy Myth

 

 

 

         The cowboy myth was first created in literature, and then was reproduced in film and television. Actor Gene Autry (best known as the “singing cowboy”) claimed cowboys were tall, lean, strong, silent men of action who followed the “Cowboy Code”: a cowboy never takes unfair advantage, never betrays a trust, never lies, is kind to children, the elderly, and animals, is free from prejudice, is always clean and helpful. But, despite what Gene Autry said, the Cowboy Code never existed.

 

         In reality, the cowboy was a laborer on horseback whose job it was to herd and transport cattle from ranch to market. Some cowboys were European immigrants, others were Mexicans, American Natives, Civil War soldiers; one quarter of cowboys were freed ex-slaves.

 

       Despite dreams of freedom and riches, a cowboy’s life was hard, and most died young. Earning only enough for food, a place to sleep, and a small amount of spending money, wearing the same clothes for weeks, their broad Stetsons protected them from the sun and served as water bowls for themselves and their horses.

 

         After grueling weeks on the road, cowboy behavior was never refined when they hit town. As one character in A Room in Blake’s Folly says: “Those men rode for hours just to get here, and when they did, they drank and turned into hyenas. Just human debris, that’s what they were, and they wasn’t welcome no place.” 

 

         Ready for a peek into the real Wild West? In A Room in Blake’s Folly, six linked stories take you to a silver mining town, introduce you to the people who lived there—not always, by choice: a mail order bride who discovered her husband was a primitive brute, a former prostitute who fell in love with a silver baron, a desperate war refugee who dreamed of stardom. And here, too, deep secrets are waiting to be revealed.