Posted by Cindi Chappell on June 14, 2000 at 15:33:41:

This is something I put on the Discussion Board recently & I thought it
also applied to our book selection:

Posted by Cindi Chappell on June 13, 2000 at 02:14:02:

In Reply to: Louis L'Amour Introduction In Survival posted by Bernard on
June 12, 2000 at 22:22:55:

With regard to what Bernard is saying above about "hero" versus "doing
your job", I have a statement which pertains also to the BOTM selection
of "Sackett."

Tell has been provoked & challenged by Kid Newton in the beginning of
the story & he knows The Kid wants to kill him. Yet, when Tell finds him
in a mountain cave with a broken leg, he makes a toboggan out of two
trees he cuts down. He then climbs up over the mountain, pulling the
toboggan with the wounded Kid to safety.

Tell is not trying to be a hero; he just views the man as being helpless,
& "it's not right" to leave a helpless man there to die, no matter who or
what he is. This shows us the measure of the man, Tell Sackett. Being
a "good doobie" is one thing; doing what's right is another. It's a matter
of following one's own principles he lives by.

As for Louis L'Amour being a hero, we discussed this a few months back,
I remember. I don't view him as my hero; just the wonderful storyteller
that he was. His characters in the novels may have been heroes, but he
was a man who loved to entertain, like Homer entertained the ancient
Greeks. C.

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