The Resurgence of the Cowboy Figure: Raylan’s Utopic Quest in Justified
By Melanie A. Marotta, Morgan State University
In nineteenth and early twentieth-century America, the cowboy construct was
often associated with images of freedom, of justice, and of the wilderness. In various
media, the cowboy also appears in the role of lawmaker, as peacemaker in his
community; this figure ensures that the moral code of his community is upheld as is
personal freedom. Richard W. Etulain, for instance, cites both Owen Wister’s Virginian
and James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking as “cowboy protagonist[s]” that
“confront dangerous foes and dutifully carry out dangerous tasks assigned . . .” (Telling
68). Over time, the cowboy figure was and must continue to be adapted in order to suit
his changing environment as he has entered what Rickard Slotkin terms “post-Frontier
America” (194). Even though he does change to suit this contemporary space, this
character’s persona still encompasses the traits of the Myth of the Frontier, revealing
that he is not only unable to escape his past (the Old West), he also exists as a product
of it.
FX’s series, Justified, revolves around Elmore Leonard’s cowboy/Deputy US
Marshal Raylan Givens. A minor character created by Leonard for his short story
collection, Fire in the Hole, Raylan takes center-stage as Justified’s protagonist, one
who spends his time battling his personal demons, which mainly appear in the form of
his former community. Notably, Raylan’s popularity motivated Leonard to write a novel
(published in 2012) that features Raylan as the protagonist and is titled after this key
character. Described as “one cool character” (Hinds), Raylan comes from Harlan
County in rural Kentucky, a place where remnants of his family and friends still live. In
an effort to separate himself from the criminal element in which he has matured, Raylan
leaves Harlan and becomes a US Marshal. According to Slotkin, the hero figure is
central to the Myth of the Frontier and that he felt it was his duty to institute a frontier
code of conduct, but that the motivation for doing so may not have been for the good of
the public and was in accordance with his own desires (14). In effect, since Raylan
witnesses his father, Arlo, involved in various criminal enterprises during his childhood,
and Harlan Country was revered by his deceased mother, whom Arlo repeatedly
assaulted, it stands to reason that Raylan would be emotionally invested in the welfare
of the place and its residents. In order to ward off the criminal element encroaching on
his and his community’s personal freedom, the contemporary construct of the American
cowboy appears. Etulain, again citing Wister’s classic novel, observes that “the hero
serves as lawbringer and civilizer” (Telling 70). In an analysis of both government
sanctioned violence and the protection of settlers in the nineteenth-century West,
Michael A. Bellesiles comments on the duties of the marshals, noting that their tasks
included both enforcing the law and ensuring that this space belonged to the Western
newcomers (“Western Violence”). While critics relate conflicting views about the amount
of violence present in the nineteenth-century West, there is agreement with regard to
the behavior of the lawman. Etulain documents this figure’s appearance in the
nineteenth-century, connecting him to the metamorphosis which was occurring on the
frontier (Badges xii). He asserts that because of the rapid alterations to the frontier that
ensued after the 1820s, many with economic means hired enforcers who could protect
their interests and ensure a peaceful environment (xii). Both the cowboy and the
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