Character Analysis of a Community Lone Star and the Concept of Borders - Literature Essay Samples

The movie Lone Star addresses multiple issues that people from troubled border towns have, including racial tensions, dirty cops, and illegal gambling. Ours is a story about borders. Towns on either side of a given border generally have more in common with each other than they do with any towns further into their own state says the director, John Sayles. Borders are a major apart of this film both physically and emotionally, and almost every character has one or more to deal with throughout. It includes many different types of people and naturally there is going to be conflict between specific groups. There are Mexicans, African Americans, white, and Native American people featured and there are borders between characters on all sides. There are more of these type of emotional and personal borders rather than man made walls. The main character, Sam, has to be able to play both sides of each individual border because he is the sheriff and has to be fair as well as live up to his fathe rs reputation. The borders created by the people involved always come back to Sam. The people that live there now think so highly of Buddy Deeds that they are dedicating the courthouse to him and if they were to find out that he wasnt the man they thought he was the history of the town would be changed. The first border was created long before the time that the movie takes place between Otis Payne or Big O, and his son Delmore Payne. Big O has lived in Frontera his whole life and has either worked at or owned a bar since he was old enough to work. His bar is the place for African American nightlife because they are outnumbered in population there. Big O had been there for so long and knew so many people he was the face of the black community in Frontera and was very involved in peoples lives. He is also a local historian and really values his heritage, showing it by having a miniature museum in the back of his bar showing pictures and paintings of the Black Seminoles that used to dominate the area. Otis drinks, he used to run gambling rings and probably still does but we don’t know for sure and he looks out for his best interests. His son, Delmore, is slightly different though. He is an army officer that hasn’t had any contact with his father for years but is reassigne d to the Frontera base and he has a son, Chet, that Otis hasn’t seen to his knowledge. Delmore tries to keep Chet from seeing Otis because Del feels he never really had a father because Otis didnt help raise him. Delmore channeled that energy and became a high ranking officer in the army not only for himself but also to get back at his father and try to prove that he is a better man than Otis ever will be. Nonetheless, against the wishes of his father, Chet sneaks out to his grandfathers bar on multiple occasions. The first time was early in the movie and a black man in the army was shot while there. Otis recognizes Chet and tells him to leave and not to tell anyone what he saw. This part is subtly important because the people involved in the shooting were under Delmores platoon and he is supposed to run the best boot camps out of any of the officers they have. It ironic that it happens in Otis bar because it shows the craziness and violence that Otis has gone through his entire life and shows that Delmore isn’t a perfect person as hard as he might try. The second time Chet goes in he is amazed by the pictures of the Black Seminoles and asks Otis many questions about them. Otis tells him about their struggles, their migrations, survivals, their participation in the battles fought and that he is in fact part Seminole. Chet is excited to hear the news and then Otis says something very important, But blood only means what you let it. By saying this he is referencing Delmore decision to not be apart of Otis’ life by choice and Otis sees this as not wanting to be related. Delmore doesn’t want to let their blood be the same and he does his best to stay away. As hard as he tries he eventually makes his way into Otis’ bar and has a talk with his father after years. They don’t get a lot accomplished, basically just slyly hinting at all of their pent up anger but as Delmore is leaving Otis asks if he’ll â€Å"ever see that family of yours(Delmore)†, having already met and talked to his son and Del say’s he’ll bring them in but he doesn’t. The decision Otis had to make about Delmore had to be extremely difficult but he ultimately chose to stay and continue his work at his bar but more importantly he didn’t leave his town. The people there need him as a public figure to represent the African America ns because no one else of that race really has any importance to Frontera. Otis has been there for everything, he has seen and done a lot to preserve the way it is now and he couldn’t bring himself to leave that. It isn’t fair to Delmore because he was robbed of a father but by sacrificing himself he saved hundreds of people overs decades because they had Otis instead of him. Another major border was that of the infamous Charlie Wade and he really had conflicts with everyone but he always won every situation he was in. Charlie Wade was a corrupt cop who used intimidation through murder to run Frontera however he wanted and no one was ever brave enough to say no and bring him down. Everyone had the same thoughts of Charlie but they were too scared to act. He controlled the police, politicians, and also oversaw all of the illegal gambling that was going on. Wade didnt care that it was happening as long as he knew about it because if he didn’t there would be serious consequences and they all knew it. While Charlie was the sheriff he had two deputies, Hollis Pogue and Buddy Deeds. Hollis was always loyal to Wade possibly due to fear or just the fact of wanting to do your job well. During each flashback including the two Hollis is usually uncomfortable with what is going on. For example when Wade shot and killed the Mexican â€Å"coyote† smugglin g people across the border Hollis was horrified that Wade could do something like that alone, regardless of the fact he shot a defenseless man without checking for reason. Wades brutal racism shows a more violent way of controlling the population like America has been trying to do for years. In the article â€Å"Moral Exclusion in a Nation of Immigrants† it talks about the Naturalization act of 1790, which tried to maintain the purity of America and keep foreigners out (59). Wade is basically doing the same thing just in possibly the most illegal way possible. Charlie was able to walk all over Hollis because at the time Hollis was too weak to stand up to Wade but Buddy on the other hand wasn’t. Buddy immediately knew that Wade was corrupt and he refused to do the work that was assigned to him even though it wasn’t always legal. During a flashback where Buddy refuses an order of Wades’, Charlie fires him and as he leaves he tells Buddy that he’s a à ¢â‚¬Å"dead man† and then yells at Hollis to get the car. That was shortly before Wades’ disappearance and Buddys rise to the top Still, the border doesn’t stop there, because of the culture and racism of the time Otis has had his share of run ins with sheriff Wade. Once when he was a young man and Wade embarrassed Big O in front of the whole bar by making him pour beer and then moving the glass to make a mess. Wade pulls a gun but just as a means of intimidation and to show O who runs the town. The second meeting between the two is much more explosive though. Big O was running and underground gambling ring without telling Wade and he found out. There was already an extreme border between the two but when Wade saw what was going on he threw Otis out of the closet and beat him. He lets Otis stand and gestures to the money and when his back is turned Charlie pulls a pistol out just like what he did with the smuggler. This time Buddy charges in but the only bullet fired was by Hollis. He and Otis were friends and Hollis just decided that this is where it all ends. However, by shooting Charlie Wade he has ju st unleashed a whole string of other problems that they have to deal with now. The three that are there know what happened but now there is another border between them and the story they tell the public. By deciding to stage Wades death and putting Buddy as sheriff they realize that the truth can never get out because as long as Charlie Wade is gone they don’t care. Anything is better then life with Charlie Wade as sheriff and Hollis says it to Sam, â€Å"People liked the story we told, better than anything the truth might have been†. At the time the movie actually takes place they continue to lie because everyone believes the story the story that’s out there and the truth would damage if not ruin Buddys legacy because he didn’t really get rid of Wade, Hollis did. Hollis doesn’t want that though partly because he’s an old man and has accepted what happened and partly because Buddy was one of his closest friends and best men he’s ever known. While a lot of people think the same as Hollis we know it’s not the whole truth and Sam has a nagging suspicion it’s a lie. The possibly most overlooked border in the movie is the one between Sam and Buddy and not just the fact that Sam thinks he killed Charlie but of all that Sam had to grow up through having a father as popular and well liked in a town as Buddy. Sam never really had a place to hide from his father because Buddy patrolled the streets and was around but Buddy wasn’t perfectly ethical and he knew all the spots that Sam could go to get into trouble. Buddy had eyes everywhere ready to tell him if his son was doing something he shouldn’t be. Buddy let the town know too because in one particular flashback Sam is at the drive in theaters with Pilar when he isn’t supposed to. Buddy walks through and shines his light in every car until he finds his son and then drags him out while cars honk wildly at whats happening. While this was probably trauatice for Sam the thing that hurt him the most was the fact that Buddy wouldn’t allow Sam and Pilar to be together. During the movie we don’t know the whole story and just think he is doing this because he feels like it. There was a much deeper reason for Buddy trying to keep the two children apart. In the last scene, after everything has been resolved we learn that Sam and Pilar are actually brother and sister and no one told them. Even years after his death Buddy still finds a way to put a barrier between him and his son but Sam and Pilar decide to forget about it and continue to be together. A reason for this in my eyes is Sam getting back at his father in a way due to the years that he was forced away from her for no good reason. The line that perfectly summarizes the situation and really the whole movie is when Sam is leaving Big O’s bar after he finds out the true story. He says â€Å"His legacy can handle it† talking about Buddy. There are only a select number of people on the earth that know this secret and one of them is dead. This is could be the real driving force behind Sam leaving Frontera in the first place and trying to get away from his father. It’s ironic that he tries to run from this for so long but ends up being sucked into the same position that his father was in all those years ago. It makes it even worse that the same people that were a major part of the community when Buddy was sheriff are essentially the same people who are still there now. Their real allegiance is to Buddy even though they support Sam fully, they refuse to let anything bad happen to Buddys name. This barrier is more complex then just Sam and Buddy because of all the lives Buddy touched while he was in charge. Lone Star brings up multiple racial tensions that are a real problem then and even in todays America. It represents all the different angles and has real problems of real people in the same situation. It includes a level of complexity between characters that real people have and it shows the real life politics that people have to play to get what they want. Without all this complexity the town would be completely different because Buddy wouldn’t have the same legacy and Sam might not even be there. If none of that happens then the town just isn’t the same, it changes the whole history of Frontera. At the point of the film the people that were involved in Charlie Wades murder had no choice but to keep it a secret until they die because theyve seen the town at its’ best and its’ worst. They understand the needs of Frontera and continue to put the people first. Anything is better then Charlie Wade, even a lie.