Posted: September 12th, 2022

“homicide rates in the old west.”

Place your order now for a similar assignment and have exceptional work written by our team of experts, At affordable rates

For This or a Similar Paper Click To Order Now

Essay Assignment: Myth and Reality of the Old West and Frontier
Instructions:
The legendary Old West or Western Frontier is one of the most enduring, best-loved, and universal myths in America. The images of the cowboy, the frontier, the maverick hero, posses and outlaws, ranchers and oil barons, Indians and cavalry: these have huge symbolic importance. They aren’t only images of something that really happened. They mean something. They partially define what it means to be American. This assignment will allow you to examine the myth, the reality, and what the myth means to us.
For this assignment, you will using several sources of different kinds. You will consult your textbook, The American Yawp. Other sources are written by historians, examining the differences between the myth and the reality, or tracing how the myth has changed and why. Finally, some reflect the myth entirely: fiction, in which the Wild West has moved into outer space, or commercials, in which the myth is used as a tool to try to sell you something.
From these sources, you will be able to do two things: compare and contrast the myth and the reality, and notice what the myth means to us and how we use it. This is what you will do in a 4-page essay. (Hint: to count as four pages, it has to be near the bottom of the fourth page. Also, really long headings and wide margins and gaping spaces between paragraphs fool no one.)
These are your sources:
Textbook (you must use this)
The American Yawp.
Scholarly Articles (you must use at least one of these)
Randolph Roth, Michael D. Maltz, and Douglas L. Eckberg. “Homicide Rates in the Old West.” The Western Historical Quarterly 42, no. 2 (Summer 2011). Pp. 173-195.
Brian W. Dippie. “Drawn to the West.” The Western Historical Quarterly 35, no. 1 (Spring 2004). Pp. 4-26.
Stewart L. Udall, Robert R. Dykstra, Michael A. Bellesiles, Paula Mitchell Marks, and Gregory H. Nobles. “How the West Got Wild: American Media and Frontier Violence. A Roundtable.” The Western Historical Quarterly 31, no. 3 (Autumn 2000). Pp. 277-295.
Paul A. Hutton. “From Little Bighorn to Little Big Man: The Changing Image of a Western Hero in Popular Culture.” The Western Historical Quarterly 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1976). Pp. 19-45.
Pop Culture: TV Show Episodes (you must use at least one of these)
Firefly episode: “Safe”. (Available streaming on YouTube and Hulu. You can also buy it on Amazon Prime for $1.99.)
The Mandalorian episode: “The Mandalorian”. (Available streaming on Disney+.)
Audio Drama (you must use this)
The Six Shooter episode: “Red Lawson’s Revenge”. (A 1950s radio drama starring Jimmy Stewart, available on YouTube).
Commercials (you must use at least one of these)
T-Mobile Cowboy Commercial. https://youtu.be/wmoZDgT32XM
EDS Cat Herder Commercial. EDS, an HP Company ‘Cat Herders’
Geico Belt Buckle Commercial. Geico cowboy belt buckle commerical 2018
Of these sources, you MUST use your textbook, at least one of the four articles, at least one of the TV show episodes, The Six Shooter episode, and at least one commercial.
If you wish, you may also use other sources you find, but you don’t have to.
Format:
This essay should be double-spaced. Please use an 11- or 12-point font (Calibri or Times New Roman are probably your defaults, and these are both good choices), and have one-inch margins.
If you use specific examples or direct quotes, you must cite them properly. This can be done in a couple of ways. You can cite within the sentence, like this: “According to Joe Bloe on page 10 of his essay ‘This and That’, Texas history is awesome.” Or, you can use parenthetical citation, like this: “Texas history is widely accepted to be awesome. (Joe Bloe, ‘This and That’, p. 10)” Or you can use a footnote, like this: “Texas history is widely accepted to be awesome.”[1] Use whichever style you are most comfortable with, but I have to know the source of what you are talking about. And it bears repeating: you must cite all direct quotes! It is not necessary to use any sources other than the ones listed above, but you can if you want to, as long as you do use the required sources.
Be sure to include a Works Cited (or Bibliography) page at the end, including the full citations of all sources. You may use whichever citation style you are most comfortable with (History typically uses Chicago or Turabian), but be sure you are consistent and have cited all sources fully. If you use quotes, indicate the name of the source along with the page number within the paper. Be sure all quotes are in quotation marks!
Remember: a good rule of thumb is, when in doubt, cite. You will never get accused of plagiarism for citing too much.
Be sure to put your name on your essay!
How to Turn It In:
This essay must be submitted on Canvas by September 25.
There will be a penalty for turning your essay in late, as stated in the syllabus: you will lose one letter grade per day, including weekend days.
What your essay should cover:
Be sure to answer all of these fully and specifically.
Select one of these themes:
The Western hero
Law and order, authority figures (like sheriffs or mayors or whatnot)
Violence and lawlessness
2. According to your sources, what was the reality of your theme?
What were Western heroes, like Wyatt Earp, Custer, or cowboys, really like? What did they really do?
What was law and order really like in the West? What did sheriffs or marshals really do? What kinds of laws were actually in place, and what did law enforcement look like?
How violent and lawless was the West really?
What is the legend (related to your chosen theme again) today, based on popular culture and commercials, as well as the historians’ articles? For example:
What is the legendary Western hero like? What are his characteristics? What are the heroes in commercials (that is, the guys with the right products) like? What are they doing and how are they behaving? What are the heroes in Firefly or The Mandalorian like? How do they behave? What do they do? What is Brit Ponsett like in “Red Lawson’s Revenge”? What does all this tell us about what Western heroes are like?
How are authority figures, and the law in general, seen in the legend? What authority figures or representatives of the law appear in Firefly, the Mandalorian, The Six Shooter, or the commercials? What are their roles? Are they good guys or bad guys? Are they helpful?
What is the myth of violence and lawlessness in the West? How are violence and lawlessness portrayed in commercials, The Six Shooter, or Firefly? What is the role of violence, or the threat of violence, in solving problems? Is there anything to protect people against violence, or punish murderers?
Looking at your chosen theme, has the legend changed over time, from the 1800s to the 1950s to today? If so, what changed?
How do Western heroes look in myth? Have those characteristics changed from the 1800s, to the 1950s, to today?
What does the myth say about law and authority in the West? Have perceptions of order and authority changed over time, from the 1800s to today?
What does myth say about violence and lawlessness in the West? Has that perception changed?
Legends have to appeal to people, or they would never get going or be popular. With this in mind, what do the legends say about the people who liked them as they changed over time? What do the West and the Frontier mean to us today? (Freedom? Progress? Lawlessness? Vigilante justice? Personal independence? What?) What might that say about us?

For This or a Similar Paper Click To Order Now