The Rise of the American Gunfighter
Nathaniel Hawthorne's Roger Malvin's Burial
Oct 28, 2009 Christopher Mansour
Heroic cultures are defined by blood. Both Homer's The Iliad, and the Anglo-Saxonic Beowulf, paragon of Old English literature, depict heroic cultures in which men establish and define their status through the slaughter of enemies both warrior and civilian. Achilles, Homer's philosophical brute, epitomizes the glory-seeking adventurer more interested in the thrill of the kill than in fighting for loftier reasons--the defense of country or kindred.
Beowulf, however sympathetic to the Geats' plight, craves the eternal fame assured any man able to slay the Grendel kin. Any heroic culture, with its corresponding oral tradition, creates an economy of warfare and personal ambition in which violence determines social standing. Arising out of American Indian warfare, the gunfighter is the most recent incarnation.
The Birth of US Heroic Culture and its Ancient Heritage
"Roger Malvin's Burial" depicts the early Colonial past where a brutal heroic culture emerges amidst the background of Indian warfare. Nation-building, colonial or aboriginal, is a process of alienation, warfare, and expansionism. Hawthorne's preface concerning "Lovell's flight" offers a portrait of the birth of an American heroic culture strongly resembling its historical antecedents. Overlooking the battle’s grim context, Hawthorne favours "the moonlight of romance”(Hawthorne 17). The conflict, occurring in 1725, saw nearly fifty American gunfighters overwhelmed by a larger Pequawket aboriginal force and resulted in a hard-fought American defeat (McIntosh 17).
While Hawthorne notes that the gunfighters' expedition is "undertaken for the defence of the frontiers"(17), he fails to explain the ruthlessness and cruelty demonstrated by gunfighter and native warrior alike--a savagery resonating with the ancient songs and oral epics of Europe and the Mediterranean. As the building of a nation often involves violent expansion, in this context, both Indian and Colonist share kindred spirits. The Pequawket war, a war of expansion, "[breaks] the strength of a tribe"(Hawthorne 18) thereby establishing "peace" through superior firepower. It is a war, says Hawthorne, beneficial to America.
The drive to expand one’s country offers many individuals the opportunity to win status, fame, and wealth through war-time exploits and violent deeds. John Lovewell leads a group of gunmen against the Pequawket Indians of Maine because they had "surprised and murdered" (McIntosh 17) his family. Many of his soldiers are "partly out for plunder". The battle, supposedly undertaken "to defend New England"(McIntosh 18), arises out of pretence and adventurism. But this fact applies to Pequawket and Colonist alike. The Natives destroy crops "in the field or in the barn"(Hawthorne 26) in an attempt to starve their adversaries. But Lovewell’s men, in their avarice, most closely resemble the older epic heroes.
"Othering" Galvanizes Community Action
Every war-like culture requires an enemy to arouse the passions of the people. It gives one group the reason to attack another and becomes the impetus of heroic action. To the Greeks, Troy deserves their wrath for Helen's abduction. To Rome, the elimination of the Celts is in retaliation for the sacking of their republic. Similarly, the Colonists demonize the Aboriginals and 'justify' any heroic undertakings. Any culture defines itself by what it fears or opposes. The Americans, fearful of the natives and the wilderness, create a militant culture as a panacea for a dangerous world.
Hence, Roger Malvin's description of "many a long mile of howling wilderness"(Hawthorne 19). Howling becomes a metaphor for the dangerous wild animals, but it is also a derogatory condemnation of the 'howling' natives that the colonists equate with ungodly devils. And as America expands, "frontier garrisons"(19) combat and supress the natives. Reuben's remark that it is "terrible to wait the slow approach of death in [such] solitude"(Hawthorne 20), offers an odd contradition: Natives do not fear nature's power.
Heroic Culture and Fame
Any heroic culture births dreams of personal glory and self-aggrandizement. One could be immortalized in the form of stories told about his deeds or gain wealth by plundering enemies or earning rewards from his countrymen. Lovewell lures men with promises of scalps, bounty, and murder (McIntosh 18). For each scalp, one could earn "one hundred pounds". Like Homer's heroes, these men crave wealth and fame. The Indian wars are an excuse for greed and murder, as Lovewell's men "[murder] and [scalp] ten Indians"(18) they capture near a campfire. The questionable heroism of either side is indisputable.
Both sides commit atrocities against the other; both sides covet the fame begot by stories told of their actions; both are morally-twisted societies casting cold-hearted murderers as folk heroes. The Pequawket eventually inflict a "severe defeat" upon Lovewell's force at the cost of heavy casualties (McIntosh 18). In the ensuing chaos, the colonists abandon three of their own (18). It is these horrific circumstances that Hawthorne casts "judiciously into the shade", proclaiming the "heroism of a little band who gave battle to twice their number in the heart of the enemy's country"(18).
Hawthorne ignores the darker motivations behind Lovewell's pursuit of the aboriginals. This is a period when the gun replaces the sword. The narrator invokes chivalry, praising the "bravery of both parties" who fight according to "civilized ideas of valor"(18). In place of knights, or Greeks, are gunfighters. John Lovewell and his band are immortalized by an idolizing heroic society. And like Julius Caesar, Lovewell acquires "as actual a military renown as many a victorious leader of thousands"(Hawthorne 18). For like Caesar over the Celts, Lovell triumphs over an indigenous culture. Roger Malvin's wish to be remembered as a "hunter and a warrior"(Hawthorne 19-20) reflects the old heroic dream of immortality.
A Colonial Oral Tradition
Indeed the entire tale is a testimony to a colonial oral tradition of ballads, songs, stories, and memorials about "Lovell's flight" that are the engine of heroic culture. Though a far cry from Homer, the stories, including Roger's Montreal account, ratify cultural values and preserve the customs of this heroic, albeit savage, society. The gunfighter, therefore, is analogous to his sword-bearing ancestors.
Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Roger Malvin's Burial." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York: London: Norton, 1987. 17-32.
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