The ox bow incident ebook

Jones and Elmer Kelton specialized in the western genre, but they nevertheless wrote a few books that non-western aficionados could appreciate — as did A. Then there is Larry McMurtry. He, like Jones and Kelton, specialized in novels about the American West, but it is safe to say that it was his epic story of the cattle frontier, Lonesome Dove winner of a Pulitzer Prize , that more than any other western ever published captured the imagination of people who did not ordinarily read westerns.

The reason that all readers can enjoy these books is because they are literary westerns, meaning that they are historical fiction that happens to be set in the American West. One more novel that needs to be added to that list is The Ox-Bow Incident. In this, his debut novel , Walter Van Tilburg Clark set out to write a typical western story, one that had been told many times before, but he wanted to rewrite the formula that popular novelists such as Zane Grey and Max Brand had used with great success, a formula that had placed limitations on how the story of the West could be told.

The result is a realistic psychological study of character and morality and the hesitancy of bystanders, including the narrator, to intervene even when they suspect that a tragic wrong is about to occur. The critics wrote positive reviews about this gritty, nontraditional western that broke the mold of earlier revenge westerns, stories in which white-hatted heroes rode to last-second rescues.

It has many of the elements of an old-fashioned horse opera — monosyllabic cowpunchers, cattle rustlers, a Mae West lady, barroom brawls, shootings, lynchings, a villainous Mexican. But it bears about the same relation to an ordinary western that The Maltese Falcon does to a hack detective story. I agree. Mar 12, Cphe rated it really liked it Shelves: psychological , historical , western , dark-very-dark , More than just a western themed novel.

A story of cattle rustling and murder, the lengths that men will go to for vengeance without a shred of concrete evidence.

A story of good versus evil and the power of "the mob" The story unfolds through the eyes of Art Croft and his partner Gil who become swept along with a town intent on vigilante justice and the consequences of their actions.

Enjoyed the second half of this novel more so than the first. Felt that the early parts were a little slower to de More than just a western themed novel. Felt that the early parts were a little slower to develop. Interesting and complex characters on offer here. Well written for the genre. Dec 28, Mr. Matt rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites , , classics , western. The Ox-Bow Incident is a classic in the truest sense of the word.

It is a timeless book that speaks to our common humanity and remains just as relevant today as the day that it was written. It reminds us that no matter how much our world has changed — no matter how sophisticated our technology — we humans have changed very little. This was shockingly refreshing to me. I generally read a lot of what my mom had o The Ox-Bow Incident is a classic in the truest sense of the word. These books were filled with dragons, zombies, lost treasures and packed full of adventure.

All fun, but not really pushing the reader very much. The Ox-Bow Incident was a dramatic departure. It is a book about the nature of justice, the human desire to fit in and our fear of confronting evil.

The book follows two drifters in a dusty Western town is there any other kind? Art Croft and Gil Carter ride into town where the tension is so thick you could cut it with a butter knife.

Rustlers have been stealing cattle and ranchers are going out of business. Everyone is on edge. Tempers are high and everyone is drinking whiskey like there is no tomorrow. The tension is ratcheted up a notch as Gil gets into a fight with a local over a poker game. Then, just as a real grim and foreboding sense of menace settled over me, a young boy rides into town. A well-liked local has been killed. Cattle are missing. The simmering tension boils over and the townsfolk begin forming a lynch mob.

Some locals try to slow things down, but tensions are running high. This wasn't just about rustling any longer. A man was dead. Men wanted to end this problem once and for all. The rustlers couldn't be far. The time for action was now. A few locals, notably Davies try to slow things down, but the pack of men takes on a life and energy of its own. We must act, certainly, but we must act in a reasoned and legitimate manner, not as a lawless mob…. We desire justice, and justice has never been obtained in haste and strong feeling.

Is it justice that we sweat ourselves sick and old every damned day of the year to make a handful of honest dollars, and then lose it all in one night to some miserable greaser because Judge Tyler, whatever God make of him, says we have to fold our hands and wait for his eternal justice? They see the problem. They see a good chance at a solution. Despite individual, quiet or private misgivings, a posse is formed and they ride out.

To fail to act is to let down their neighbors and their own sense of what it means to be an independent man. Men protect what they own. They fight to protect what they own. To emphasize this point the author recounts the story of Rose, an attractive, charismatic unmarried woman who was driven from the town by the ostracization of the other, largely married women in town. At the Ox-Bow, the posse does, of course, find three cowboys with a herd of cattle.

They have no bill of sale and their story just doesn't add up. There is a further build up in pressure. The two sides form again. Let them swing, I say. But I do want to see real justice. This is a farce; this is, as Mr. Martin has said, murder. Thirty minutes later the Sheriff arrives. Tragically, the men were telling the truth. And here is where the book really shines as the consequences of their rush to judgment hammer home.

Davies is in a personal hell. Despite fighting the longest and hardest to save the three men, he blames himself. He knew that he could've saved the men, but he failed to act — because he was afraid, afraid of confronting a strong man he knew was wrong, afraid of the conflict, afraid of the social disruption.

I knew it as surely as I do now. And I knew that Tetley could be stopped. I knew in that moment you were all ready to be turned. And I was glad I didn't have a gun.

I had everything, justice, pity, even the backing — and I knew it — and I let those three men hand because I was afraid.

This book is as relevant today as it was when it was first written. The dark, brooding mood of the narrative and the almost mournful, melancholy characters create a spellbinding tale of human weakness and the damning rush to judgment. What is justice? How do we find justice? What will you sacrifice to stand up to evil? A book that asks questions like these is, in my mind, a classic.

I had seen "The Ox-Bow Incident" movie several times and it had such an effect on me that has not been forgotten over the years and never will be, it is that kind of movie. So when I was looking for books that I had seen the movie, I had to put Ox-Bow on my list and when listening to an OTR, quiz show last week, "Information Please", this book was mentioned in all its greatness an I had seen "The Ox-Bow Incident" movie several times and it had such an effect on me that has not been forgotten over the years and never will be, it is that kind of movie.

So when I was looking for books that I had seen the movie, I had to put Ox-Bow on my list and when listening to an OTR, quiz show last week, "Information Please", this book was mentioned in all its greatness and knew it was time read it.

The movie and OTR had their spin but the ending basically the same. The movie and OTR had a different feel which had clear white and black areas. In the book lynching is seen as wrong but there is such a grey area with the characters which gives a more realistic view of the mob which is neither pretty or pleasant to read.

Walter Van Tilburg Clark does such a great job in showing us readers the darkness that can happen when mob rules and the individual gives himself to this, afraid to speak for himself. Even in today's modern world, we see the injustice of man in his "rush to judgement"at times and even though the "rule of law" is not to our liking sometimes, this book shows perfectly why it should never be forgotten.

The same scene that had me crying in the movie, had me doing the same in the book. If a book gets me to cry, now that is something kind of rare which makes this an ultimate favorite of mine and it is placed there with pleasure. Apr 17, Jonathan Briggs rated it liked it. Assuming you had some reason for doing so, you could dig up all kinds of critical commentary claiming that Walter Van Tilburg Clark's Western classic "The Ox-Bow Incident" transcends the genre. That's one of those dumb things critics like to say when they accidentally like something they're not supposed to.

It's a fine example OF the genre and what good genre writing can accomplish, though it's not the finest example. It meanders and repeats itself. I'd like to see an alternate-universe version of the book, written by Elmore Leonard or Joe Lansdale, something more economical, something sharper-edged and snappier.

Clark kills too much time lovingly describing every posy of the field. He didn't have to transcribe every word in the seemingly neverending debate over the rights and wrongs, ins and outs, yeas or nays, and backs and forths of a ranchers' necktie party. And his vigilante posse could stand to lose a handful of characters who do little but clutter the trail.

Still, if flowery passages and levels of political allegory are what it takes to wrangle critical favor for a lowly genre work, then write em, cowboy. I read this at the suggestion of my Dad and I really enjoyed it. The book takes place in the Old West and it is about the dangers of mob law and a lesson I think we could all benefit from even in today's world when the media often decides people are guilty of crimes before they have a chance to state their case in a court of law.

It was beautifully written and I highly recommend it. This is a little book that roars through your conscience and stomps ethic and moral codes to the hinterland. What is law ,what is justice are they one and the same? Is it ever right to take the law and judgment into your own hands? Clark leads you to an ending in which you must ask yourself this question. For a and something page book it speaks volumes.

Imagine you are in a saloon in the old west ,vigilante justice is on the rise and someone rides into town with a wild story about murder and This is a little book that roars through your conscience and stomps ethic and moral codes to the hinterland.

Imagine you are in a saloon in the old west ,vigilante justice is on the rise and someone rides into town with a wild story about murder and cattle rustling. Would you join in the mob , would you be the voice of justice? This book was written about the time of the rise of Nazi Germany. We can ask ourselves what were they thinking to allow something like that to happen in Germany. The allegory is so obvious between this book and man allowing mob rule. Clark's character young Tetley states, humans run in a pack like wolves or coyotes to prove who is superior or more powerful.

My wondering is are we still the same in allowing things to go on in the world and not stepping forward to stand for the innocent ones being unjustly judged, because we are afraid to go against the rule of the majority. This book makes you go into your very being and try to answer these questions. We can try to justify our stance, but will the law prevail or will our souls stand for real justice.

View 1 comment. Oct 28, R. Schneider rated it it was amazing Shelves: fiction , philosophy , literature , western. In the heat of the Presidential battle, mired in debates with Libertarian friends, I sought a good read about justice, society, responsibility and humanity.

My father recommended this to me when I was very young But as a Nevada district attorney, I suppose he had some very deep connection to the story of Nevada Justice. The specific part of human society that this book picks at until raw, is our motivation to act; our motivation to participate in pack behavior; our lust for power, and the willingness of some individuals to use the pack to attain that power.

Circumstances suggest that a man has been murdered and 40 head of cattle rustled. Justice must be served, and not at the slow pace offered by the judicial system. The various characters serve as mouthpieces for and against a rush to judgment or action.

Davies and young Gerald Tetley offer book-end assessments of human motivations, and it is hard to say who is more accurate, or who pays more for the beliefs he holds, in the end. Some of the locals are "axe-to-grind", power hungry men whose motivations cover the entire spectrum EXCEPT for achieving justice in the case.

I could not help but see, in this Western novel, an eerie parallel to modern times. Members of the vigilante posse hell-bent on lynching anyone for the murder of Kincaid, morphed in my mind to become the GWBush Administration and its cronies pushing America to war in Iraq.

Circumstantial evidence; pleas to save society; appeals to machismo. A twist, late in the novel, makes this analogy even more apt in my mind Elvis Costello writes on his album "Spike", "One day you're going to have to face a deep dark truthful mirror A Western American novel, no doubt, but also a timeless assessment of human nature, and the problems of power, justice, tribalism and fear.

No reader can walk away from this novel and claim, in good conscience, looking themselves in the mirror, that they do not know the options facing them when a moral and ethical dilemma invites, nay demands their involvement. Sep 13, Qwo-Li rated it did not like it. Ok, honestly, I can't remember one damn thing about this book except that Sister Marie Renee made us read this in Jr. High and I hated it and wouldn't read it.

Then, the night before we had to be done with it, I had a major year-old nervous breakdown because I knew I could never finish it in time and was afraid of incurring nun-wrath. Aug 20, Ed rated it it was amazing.

Cerebral but hard-boiled Western deals with frontier justice, mob rule, and vigilantism. Narrator is a good reporter of the events but nobody really comes off looking too noble or even decent. Two blows — one by Gil to Farnley's jaw and one by Canby's bottle to the back of Gil's neck — and the tension is eased.

Tension is further illustrated in the Croft-Carter relationship. They are good friends who can't get along well together unless beset by some outside adversity. Art is a writer, a thinker.

Gil is a doer, a fighter. Art tends to be, by nature, a pacifist, but he will fight with Gil when necessary. He "gets riled himself" with Gil's behavior at the poker table. He prepares to knock out Gil during the Farnley fight, but Canby intercedes.

He suggests that Gil should return the last winning to Farnley. Throughout the book, it is principally when adverse pressures come from other sources that Gil and Art can co-exist peacefully. The relationships possible for a character in fiction are infinite, but they consist of only a few classes.

A character may have a relationship with God, with other men, or with the land. He may be most concerned with the past, with the present, or with the future.

In the West, a man's two main relationships are likely to be with the land and with the present. Clark illustrates these two criteria repeatedly in The Ox-Bow Incident. Bridger's Wells is a little town in an enormous valley. Gil and Art look quickly from the town to the mountains beyond to the west of the town. The "real work" is spread out on the land; the town is sleepy. Gil and Art have a fairly stable friendship, but they are essentially lonely men.

This sense of isolation is illustrated by almost every other character in the book. In the discussion of propriety, note that Art and Gil find it impossible to act naturally when they are with other men. Their actions and speeches become studied and careful, on the one hand, or abnormally aggressive, on the other as when Gil and Farnley fight. Singularity, or at most, duality is the norm in this western town. Large groups lead to trouble, as they already have for Rose Mapen, and as they will for at least six other men by the story's end.

The distinction concerning the western man's devotion to the present is a bit more subtle. Only Tetley has a certifiable past, has come out of a tradition. The usefulness of a past of that sort is effectively discounted by what happens to the Tetleys at the book's end.

Davies is a strong spokesman for tradition rule under law , but he is portrayed as a physically weak and colorless man at the outset. His eventual destruction is further proof of the uselessness of tradition in a western setting. Only Risley escapes clear indictment for failure resulting from a reliance on an ordered tradition, but he comes into the action too late.

In other ways, as well, the past is shown to be ineffectual in controlling the present actions of men. Most of these are introduced in Part 2. Moore has had many and broad experiences which have caused him to be reserved. Clark communicates this with a very slight symbol — Moore's cigarette smoke. When he inhales the smoke, almost all of it stays inside. Only a thin wisp is exhaled. Croft continues describing Moore, suggesting that he has thought little about the future.

He has saved no money, and now, broken and sick from too much bronc riding and from long years on the range, he is "afraid he will not be able to work much longer. These peculiarly western effects on men are all evident in Part 1. Search Search Search Browse menu. Sign in. The Ox-Bow Incident. First published in , it focuses on the lynching of three innocent men and the tragedy that ensues when law and order are abandoned.

The result is an emotionally powerful, vivid, and unforgettable re-creation of the Western novel, which Clark transmuted into a universal story about good and evil, individual and community, justice and human nature. As Wallace Stegner writes, [Clark's] theme was civilization, and he recorded, indelibly, its first steps in a new country.

Languages English. Set in , The Ox-Bow Incident is a searing and realistic portrait of frontier life and mob violence in the American West.

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