Dick Francis's Six-Gun Mystique.(mystery writer)(Critical Essay)

In The Six-Gun Mystique, John Cawelti analyzes the conventions and themes of the western genre including by what means the types of characters help create the familiar patterns that make this genre unique. He describes the tripartite division of characters base in the typical western: the townspeople, representing the advance of civilization into the wilderness; the Indian or outlaw, representing the lawlessness, violence, freedom, and male camaraderie being encroached on; and the hero, serving as mediator between and possessing qualities of the couple of the other clumps The hero may be a