Riders of the Purple Sage

Riders of the Purple Sage -- Mormon Romance in the Wild West

According to John G. Cawelti: "the element that most clearly defines the Western is the symbolic landscape in which it takes place and the influences this landscape has on the character and actions of the hero" (193). Author Zane Grey's 1912 novel Riders of the Purple Sage uses the conventions of the Western, and the wide-open, lawless landscape of the Western territories to tell a tale of how the religious conventions of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons, clash with the desires of the central protagonists Bern Venters and Jane Withersteen. The Mormons have a clearly defined set of laws and teachings. They disdain outsiders, but the contact between the outsider Bern Venters and the Mormon woman Jane Withersteen illustrates that the land can teach both Mormons and 'Gentiles' (non-Mormons) the values of self-reliance, the values of caring for others, and the values of depending on other people, regardless of their religious persuasion.

The beginning of the story shows an individual in conflict with society, and upholds individual rights above the rights of the community. What is so immediately striking about the novel is that a woman, Jane Withersteen, rather than a man, is at the center of the drama about land control and land ownership, and while the Mormons themselves were considered to be outsiders, even outlaws, by the federal government, because of the practice of polygamy, Withersteen's rejection of this practice, which she sees as an enslavement of a woman to male desires, makes her a pariah in the community. For Jane to tend her ranch, and to be able to care for her land only an outsider, Bern Venters will support her in her struggle.

The ability of an outsider foster prosperity and independence within the Mormon community, and the beauty as well as the peril posed the lawless landscape that contrasts with the corruption of the law, underlines how the land forges and creates relationships in the novel, and fosters both female and male independence. Jane's ranch and Venters confidence as a ranch hand establishes a bond between gentiles and Mormons. It creates a sense of self-confidence for Jane, so she can defy the Mormon elders, and enables Bern to prove his usefulness and capability on a horse. The transcendence of religious barriers through a love and need to rely upon the land for economic survival sows the seeds for the love Jane will later feel for Lassiter and will enable her to make a clean break away from the society that hems her in, and find true love.

At the beginning of the novel Jane is hated by the elders because of her refusal to marry Tull, a polygamist and leading figure of the church, at the request of her now deceased father. Land gives Jane independence, and creates ties between her economic means of survival and the outsiders. Although Lassiter is feared as an outlaw, the representatives of the law, as is typical in Westerns, are far worse in their behavior towards others than the law-breakers. Not only is Lassiter a good man, but even the feared Masked Rider and rustler is actually a decent, gentle young woman named Bess.

The land is both a symbol of human being's ability to be economically independent of legal constraints, embodied by the Mormons, but also their dependence on one another, as the elements can be merciless, and the terrain can be harsh. For example, in his adventures in the Surprise Valley and Deception Pass Bern Venters learns to care for a woman, Bess, and proves himself to be tender as well as an accomplished rider and herder of cattle. Venters gains a deeper appreciation for the land, as the land and Bess become one: "As he laid the girl down in the shallow hollow of the little ridge with her white face upturned, she opened her eyes. Wide, staring black, at once like both the night and the stars, they made her face seem still whiter" (Gray 1912). The beauty of the woman helps him appreciate the beauty of the land, and vice versa.

Caring for Bess in the Deception Pass also teaches Venters how to place the needs others before his own needs. "That done, he spilled the contents of his saddle-bags upon the grass and took stock. His outfit consisted of a small-handled axe, a hunting-knife, a large number of cartridges for rifle or revolver, a tin plate, a cup, and a fork and spoon, a quantity of dried beef and dried fruits, and small canvas bags containing tea, sugar, salt, and pepper. For him alone this supply would have been bountiful to begin a sojourn in the wilderness, but he was no longer alone" (Gray 1912). Knives and guns are no longer enough for Venters, to sustain him, this suggests metaphorically.