The year was 1976.  It was America’s bicentennial.  A peanut farmer was elected President, Nadia Comaneci scored perfect 10s in gymnastics events at the Olympics, Bruce Jenner was on the Wheaties box because he was the Olympic Decathlete and also the most handsome man in the world – what else?  Oh, and I started 8th grade (1976-77 school year).

I had an English class and a separate class called English Lit.  According to the 1977 diary I kept at that time, and in addition to having a paper route, taking care of a baby sister and going to school, as well as school and church social activities, I had a lot of homework, more than I remember having.  And reading the novella Shane by Jack Schaefer was a thorn in my side.  Mr. Linart told me I was doing C+ work, which did not correspond to the A grades on the papers I wrote that I still have tucked away in my Karen’s School Years scrapbook.

When I received my report card and saw that C, I forced Mom to go into the school and speak to the principal and the teacher.  Mr. Linart told her I had not turned in an assignment.  I was called to the office from French class then I went to my locker and retrieved the above paper with an A in green marker and his handwriting indicating his thoughts.  He then scribbled out the C on the report card and hastily threw down a B (not an A)!  I will never forget that as long as I live and because of it, I used to tell my students to keep all of their grade sheets as proof in case a teacher makes a mistake.

So, back to Shane.  This is a story set in 1889 Wyoming, a western genre thingy that was written in the 1940s.  And it is told from the 1st person perspective of a young boy called Bob, who lives on a farm with his parents.

Back then people went west and claimed land.  This is a valley that has no law enforcement, as it has been settled by farmers and a few merchants, actually one specifically, who owns the general store, the saloon and has a daughter who is the school teacher.  In addition, across the river, a cattle rancher is a big bully.  He basically wants all the land and resents this group of families who have laid claim to the land by way of farming it, as was legal via United States law.

Shane is a wayward dude who rides into the area on horseback.  Bob’s family gives him food and drink, and offers him a place to rest.  Shane is described as small and lean.  Bob mentions his eyes a lot – they are dark, they sparkle or whatever.  Bob says his clothing is dark, his hair is dark but he has fair skin.

Alan Ladd played Shane in the 1950s film.  I think he responded to the slight of build aspect of the character because he was a shorty in real life, but his blond hair – I think that in the movie it is a way to balance the bad guy wears dark clothing trope, although – shocking – he doesn’t even wear black in the movie.  He shows up in suede fringe and Pueblo jewelry, like a model in a future Ralph Lauren ad.

Back to the story:  the family is enamored with Shane.  They know nothing about him – they don’t even know if Shane is his first name or his last name.  They sense a darkness and yet, they offer kindness and friendship.  Shane reciprocates by helping Bob’s father, Joe, as a farmhand, complimenting Bob’s mother, Marian, on her cooking, and getting involved in their drama.

Spoiler alert:  he kills the bullies.

I found the book at my local library.  It was inserted in a collection of novellas under the title The Western.

This time around, you know, fifty years later, I was like – why the hell would this book have been in an 8th grade curriculum?  Bob mentions that his parents need to meet with his teacher because he isn’t a great student, admitting he ditches school on nice weather days to go fishing.  This parent/teacher meeting (coincidence, lol?) sets up a situation where Shane encounters five bullies and beats the shit out of them without Joe’s help until the tail end of the encounter.  The funny part is Bob never has a conversation about his schooling with his parents due to their drama trumping all.  I hated that their kid is dragged into it and I also hated that it was acceptable for 8th graders to learn that dealing with bullies was best done via fighting and gun slinging.

Was Mr. Linart a bully?  You know what I mean?  Why would he think a girl would want to read this book?  There is only one female character.  And Marian is the devoted trad wife and mother.  She cooks delicious meals.  She wants to be pretty.  There is a scene early on where she asks Shane about the ladies’ fashions in the east – he says a few things and Bob’s opinion of it is that Shane has an attention to detail.  Then Marian fucks around with a hat and runs over to the two men to get compliments, like a person with borderline personality disorder.  She interrupts the male bonding over cutting down a tree stump and gets peeved when she is shoo-shooed away.

And so, as an adult, I am all – what the hell is going on in this story?  This Shane person is attractive to Joe and to Marian, and to Bob.  They all have the hots for him.

And I started to rethink it as a Saturday Night Live skit (or maybe just a porno) where Shane enters into a thruple with Joe and Marian.  Where Shane is bisexual.  In the movie version, there is clearly a thing between Marian and Shane.

The part that I really hated was that Shane supposedly comes to the valley to get away from past dramas.  That he wants to suppress his inner demons, which, we are meant to infer, come from past manslaughter acts.

In the end, Shane rides away with blood bleeding through his dark shirt.  He has a last conversation with Bob, and this to me, this friendship man to child, is super creepy.  Because he leaves as this ghostly hero, never to be seen again in the flesh, but he remains in all their thoughts and hearts, amen.

I mean, what the hell?  So, basically, befriend a stranger, get him to  murder your enemies, leave him to die in the desert and live happily ever after.

Thanks for nothing, Mr. Linart, whoever you are, wherever you are.  It doesn’t matter whether Shane is a good guy or a bad guy.  My new theory is that he is an easily manipulated dude masquerading as the coolest, sexiest hero-fucker a man or woman and their son could ever want to worship.