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The Role of the Frontier in American History   Term Paper ID:27826 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Compares the movie STAGECOACH to Frederick Jackson Turner's book THE FRONTIER IN AMERICAN HISTORY. Shows how Americans have been shaped by the frontier. Also looks at ways in which the idea of frontiers remains a prevalent part of American society.... More...

5 Pages / 1125 Words 2 sources, 6 Citations, MLA Format $20.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Compares the movie STAGECOACH to Frederick Jackson Turner's book THE FRONTIER IN AMERICAN HISTORY. Shows how Americans have been shaped by the frontier. Also looks at ways in which the idea of frontiers remains a prevalent part of American society. Paper Introduction: The frontier played an important part in American history, both as a reality and as an idea; it continues to do so today long after the frontier has disappeared. That disappearance was announced by Frederick Jackson Turner in his book The Frontier in American History, a book in which the author also discussed the significance of the frontier in American history. That significance is apparent in his book and in the film Stagecoach, a film which extols the virtues of those who battled the frontier, and which shows how the frontier helped shape American ideals and social attitudes. The image may be idealized in the film, but it is powerful and derives from real forces from the nineteenth century. The fact that the frontier continues to play an important role in American life is evident in the way Americans seem to keep searc Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Turner notes how the wilderness faced by the colonists changed them,and he calls the frontier "the line of most rapid and effectiveAmericanization": It takes him from the railroad car and puts him in the birch canoe. The frontier states came into the Union withdemocratic suffrage provisions and showed reactive effects on the statesfrom which people had come to the new regions: The rise of democracy as an effective force in the nation came in with western preponderance under Jackson and William Henry Harrison, and it meant the triumph of the frontier--with all its good and with all it evil elements. This frontier was pushed backunevenly but steadily until the census of 189 showed that it no longerexisted. The coach stands forAmerica and contains within it a group of exiles from other places, allseeking something different and more egalitarian in this new and harshland. However, what Turner's analysis really shows is that the frontiercontinued to exist as a given in the American mind, as a driving force inthe shaping of the American way of life, and as a motivating factor in thegrowth of the nation: The legislation which most developed the powers of the national government, and played the largest part in its activities, was conditioned on the frontier. . Ringo is the typical American who is able toassess a situation and find the best solution because he has been tested bythe dangers and pitfalls of the frontier. His character is precisely thesort Turner says is shaped by the frontier in American life, and thepopularity of this type of hero in American films shows what sort of appealit has for Americans across the board. That external worldis the frontier as Americans remember it, an idealized landscape people bysavage Indians bent on preventing the conquest of the frontier and doomedto fail in their attempt to stop it. (Turner 12) Turner shows how the existence of the frontier shaped the Americanindividual, the state, the economy, and the culture. The action here is internalized, keptinside the stage or the stage stops. This is in keeping with what Turner says about the American character,and he is convinced that there is such a thing and that it developed inresponse to the frontier: From the conditions of frontier life came intellectual traits of profound importance. The frontier played an important part in American history, both as areality and as an idea; it continues to do so today long after the frontierhas disappeared. Every challenge is designated as someform of "new frontier," from the exploration of space to the plumbing ofthe depths of the sea, from the challenge we face in fighting disease tothat of fighting poverty. We respond to a certain reality,but we also respond to the image we have of ourselves and our world. He has a code by which he livesthat is far more rigid and moral than the society of his companions on thestage. This film revolutionized the Western and revitalizedthe form. It is possible to develop a metaphorical reading of the charactersin the stagecoach and of the coach and its journey. The characters and their small worldare treated as a microcosm. Thestagecoach has a cross-section of America within it, and the coach propelsthese people through a dangerous wilderness toward a new civilization.This can be seen as a metaphor for American history, and the frontierstands as the challenge that these people face with courage anddetermination. Thefilm reflects that image, and Turner's book shows how that image was shapedby the frontier and is in many ways a continuation of the frontier. . It strips off the garments of civilization and arrays him in the hunting shirt and the moccasin. (Turner 37)These are also the traits of Ringo and his cohorts on the stagecoach, thetraits that serve them well in surviving and succeeding. That external worldis a dangerous place, and the coach seems to afford some sense of safety inits confinement as the Indians surround and chase it. That significance is apparent in his book and in the film Stagecoach, afilm which extols the virtues of those who battled the frontier, and whichshows how the frontier helped shape American ideals and social attitudes.The image may be idealized in the film, but it is powerful and derives fromreal forces from the nineteenth century. Weconquered the original frontier, but we continue to live with that memoryand to rely on it as a motivating force in American life. (Turner 31)This democratizing influence can be seen in the film Stagecoach, a filmwhich presents American life and the American experience in microcosm. Politicians find it easy to label such efforts asassaults on a new frontier because the word "frontier" has such strongconnotations in American life. The Indians are wild forces of nature. The works of travelers along each frontier from colonial days onward describe certain common traits. Ford gains a great deal of power from hisvisuals, contrasting the enclosed nature of the stagecoach with thepanoramic desert through which the coach is traveling. Turner shows how the frontierwas pushed back by settlers over successive generations and how each regionwas settled in its own way, with its own economic structure, agriculturalproduce, and mode of life: Each of these areas has had an influence in our economic and political history; the evolution of each into a higher stage has worked political transformations. This aspect of the film is very tightly controlled and keepsthe interplay within a small area. Above all, the people on the stagecoach constitute a community, andTurner's analysis points to the development of a community spirit inAmerican life centered on the shared struggle against the frontier and theshared challenge that there will always be another frontier and thatAmericans will conquer it. Stagecoach was a return to the Western for Ford after 13 years makingother types of film. The hero is the ideal ofthe American character, a man not too good and not too bad, but a man witha strong moral sense and an innate understanding of people. The Frontier in American History. Stagecoach. Twentieth-Century Fox, 1939.Turner, Frederick Jackson. The people in the coach mustdefend themselves in order to see to it that the coach gets through andthus conquers a little bit more of the frontier. The different elements in society exist together in thiscoach, which becomes a democratic institution on wheels. The fact that the frontier continues to play an important role inAmerican life is evident in the way Americans seem to keep searching for anew frontier to replace the old. This film allows Ford to display his ability with a uniquegrouping of characters, in this case held together by all being passengerson the stage. The attitude ofthe filmmakers toward the material shows that the idea of the frontier isstill strong, that it has an appeal to the public (evident in the successof this film and the many other films addressing the same type ofmaterial), and that the American character is seen at its best when it hasa frontier to challenge. That disappearance was announced by Frederick JacksonTurner in his book The Frontier in American History, a book in which theauthor also discussed the significance of the frontier in American history. Works CitedFord, John. (Turner 24) Turner notes that one of the effects of the frontier was an increasein democratization. Ringo is an outlaw but acts forsociety as much as he acts against it. Another important element in the film is the good-bad man, thecharacter played by John Wayne, Ringo. (Turner 4)Turner says that the further West we move, the more American the frontierbecomes because it is farther from Europe. The growth of nationalism and the evolution of American political institutions were dependent on the advance of the frontier. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1962. He shows that formost of American history, the frontier was the challenge, an ever-presenttest that had to be met and defeated. (Turner 37)These traits, says Turner, have persisted even as Americans have becomemore "civilized," or apparently further away from the frontier that shapedthem: The coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things, lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends; that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil, and with that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom--these are the traits of the frontier, or traits called out elsewhere because of the existence of the frontier. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.