If ever there was an instruction manual on how to behave and fit into the Wild West society, The Virginian, written by Owen Wister in the 1900's, is said manual. Wister's purpose in this novel is to provide entertainment for his intended audience, Easterners who have not yet ventured west, and to depict a clear picture of everyday Western life and those who live it. He wants to give the reader knowledge of what behavior is expected in the West and an idea of what and what not to do in order to fit in with the occupants of the Western land. In order to achieve his goal, Wister writes from a very observant first-person perspective, uses a compare/contrast organization between east and west, and includes a substantial amount of revealing dialogue between the story's characters. Wister's combination of these three strategies opens a window for his intended audience, as well as for readers today, to truly view the West without having to experience it first hand.
             The first strategy that Wister utilizes is telling The Virginian from a very observant first person perspective. The narrator, an Easterner who is visiting the West for the first time, realizes that he is an outsider in every sense, and closely observes these new people and surroundings in an attempt to truly understand this land so strange to him. One example of the narrator's keen observation skills is seen in the very descriptive account he gives when first arriving in Medicine Bow. Rather than simply using a few choice adjectives to describe his impression of small towns in the West, he states that they were "...dotted over a planet of treeless dust, like soiled packs of cards...Houses, empty bottles, and garbage, they were forever of the same shapeless pattern. More forlorn they were than stale bones" (12). As if this wasn't enough, he goes on to describe all of the buildings and businesses in the town as he sees them. With...