Cloaked as a traditional western, Clark's novel follows the path of mob justice in the classical Greek tragic style.

William Van Tilburg Clark’s short novel The Ox-Bow Incident is considered a classic in the Western genre. On September 1, 1959 Clark wrote a friend describing the novel as a ‘deliberate technical exercise’. Clark’s exercise takes the ingredients of a conventional western and turns them into something that is alive and real again. He does so by working within two traditions and uses the strengths of those two traditions to expound on the nature of justice within and without the law.

The Traditions that Shape the Novel

The Ox-bow Incident combines two seemingly disparate literary genres to comment on justice and vigilantism. Clark uses the conventions of the Western to describe place, character, and situation within the literary structure and style of a traditional Greek tragedy.

The Horse Opery Tradition

Clark wrote his novel in the horse opery tradition and molded it to fit the limited reality of Western culture. During the time frame in which he placed his novel, there were few ways to make a living; men could work as a cattleman, as the employee of a cattleman, or as miners. When men went to town for provisions, there was little to divert their attention. In the novel, Clark has his character Canby, the bartender, list what there is to do in a western town. Canby says “you have five choices...eat, sleep, drink, play poker or fight. Or you can shoot some pool.”

If there were women in town they were either taken or those of the ‘fallen’ variety. There was functional legal system but it was often called into service only after a man’s self-sufficiency failed him. These are the ingredients of a Western and this is the world that Clark’s story inhabited.

The Plot for a Traditional Greek Tragedy

According to Aristotle, the plot was the most important element in a tragedy. A tragic plot often contained the elements of reversal, recognition, and suffering. Clark’s novel uses the traditional Greek tragic stylings to tell the story. It is not an All-American story about a hero who saves the day. It is a Greek tragedy.

Reversal

The plot undergoes a multitude of reversals as the mob who set out to avenge a supposed murder. Initially, the posse forms to support Farnley who was a friend of the victim. The mob is encouraged to take action in the name of justice by the exhortations of Bartlett, an old rancher. Later, they are prepared to disband and spend the night at home or in various makeshift beds when the Civil War veteran, Major Tetley, arrives and goads the mob back into action.

Recognition

This book has several layers of recognition as the characters realize the terrible mistake that they made. The first layer of recognition is the very direct and visceral recognition that occurs when the mob begins the return ride home and discovers that the man whose death they avenged is not dead.

More serious recognition occurs as each man returns home and confronts the death of three innocent men in his own way. Some simply drink away responsibility; some blame others; and some become depressed. Suicides and bizarre confessionals occur in the wake of recognition and introspection. Ironically, those whose responses are most dramatic are those who were least responsible.

Suffering

There are many degrees of suffering in this book. The suffering (as is often the case in tragedy) starts off early with the stoic suffering of Farnley when he discovers that his friend Kincaid has been killed. Along the way, we are shown the spectrum of emotional suffering. From Tetley’s effeminate son who suffers his father’s scorn and then suffers guilt at the death of the men; to Davies, who despite his efforts to turn the mob, feels that in the end he is responsible for the whole situation; to the young husband and father whose naiveté results in his hanging we follow the torturous twists of emotional suffering.

A Perfect Marriage

It seems remarkable that no one before Clark saw the potential of uniting the western genre with the components of a Greek tragedy. The lawless world of the western cowboy was not so different from the world of the early Greeks where most people lived between the poles of power and often found that justice was not possible without the participation of the individual. Brutality and unpredictability were often the primary motivators in both worlds.

Thankfully, Clark saw the possibilities and composed the perfect marriage of genre and style.

Clark, Walter Van Tilburg. The Ox-Bow Incident. Signet, 1940.

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