The Searchers: Inconsistency in Ethan

 Cameron Carmichael

Professor Wisniewski

ENGL 280 01

September 25, 2020

The Searchers: Inconsistency in Ethan

        The film "The Searchers", by John Ford, tells the story of a man named Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) who is just coming back after participating in the Civil War to his brother's home in Texas. Ethan is shown to be a man with strong opinions once the whole family is eating dinner. A young man named Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) walks through the door, greets everyone and sit's down awkwardly once Ethan glares at him. Ethan's immediate response was very shocking to me once Martin sat down. He says, "Well I could mistake you for a half-breed." I was very confused with this because of the context established only seconds earlier with Martha (Dorothy Jordan) implying that Ethan has known Martin for a while. This one action follows Ethan through the rest of the film and the viewer now knows what to expect from him.

        Throughout the film, Ethan is seen to be intolerant towards Native Americans, Mexicans, and also assuming Blacks because he says early on that he was a part of the Confederate Army throughout the Civil War. Some Comanche trick Ethan, Martin, and many others while on a patrol with the distraction of killing a cow with a spear. Everyone realizes that they have been tricked, so they all decide to go back to their homes to make sure their families are okay. When they return to the Edwards' home, it's found burned to the ground, with Ethan's brother Aaron (Walter Coy), Martha, and their son Ben (Robert Lyden) dead, burned alive in their home. Ethan's nephews Debbie (Lana Wood and Natalie Wood) and Lucy (Pippa Scott) nowhere to be found. This event increases Ethan's intolerance towards the Comanche and he sets off to find Lucy and Debbie, hesitantly letting Martin and Lucy's fiance Brad (Harry Carey Jr.) help look for them along with many others after a funeral. This events sets the rest of the film in motion, as the rest of the film is Ethan and Martin looking for Lucy and Debbie for the next 5 years. They find Lucy very early on in the adventure, having been killed by the Comanche near a camp. Ethan multiple times throughout the film expresses his feelings toward the Comanche to the people surrounding him, especially Martin, treating him horribly for being one eighth Cherokee.

        Eventually, near the end of the film, Ethan and Martin find Debbie alive and having been taking captive and made a wife of the Comanche Leader named Scar (Henry Brandon). They want to trade with Scar to rescue Debbie and begin to set up camp near the Comanche campsite. Ethan and Martin know Debbie is alive because while conversing with Scar, Debbie shows the two a pole with the scalps of many people tied to it, being a warning if they try anything. After camp has been set up, Debbie runs to them, claiming that she does not want to be rescued and she is with her new family. Ethan threatens to shoot and kill Debbie because of this, saying that she's not a part of his family being married to a Comanche. Ethan acts similarly but not as extreme to Martin at the beginning of the film, claiming that even though the Edwards' took him in as their own, because of his race he is not a relative. Ethan then completely flips how he feels about her near the end of the film when Martin rescues her and kills Scar. After scalping Scar, Debbie runs to him and he accepts her in his arms, as if nothing had ever happened. It's very interesting to see his character flip this drastically when he wanted to kill her earlier because of her association to the Comanche, but once she leaves he accepts her with open arms. Also, after treating Martin so horribly throughout the film, before rescuing Debbie, Ethan writes a will to have Martin own all of his possessions once he dies because of Debbie's current status. He may see Martin as a part of his family at that point, but I believe it is only because he has no one else. These actions show Ethan's true morals and feelings towards people of other races and ethnicity's. 

        Ethan's character is very flawed and it is shown well throughout the whole film. He is very intolerant of anyone who isn't white, or is compassionate to other races. His beliefs don't change once the film ends. It took Debbie running away and realizing she wants to come back to Ethan and Martin after she's rescued, for him to see her as family again. I believe, if Martin's plan didn't work, he would have killed Debbie just as easily as he killed every other Comanche along his adventure. I understand that his character is representative of the time that the film takes place in, but it doesn't give him an excuse to have those feelings. Ethan's character is introduced very straightforward once he arrives to his brothers home early on in the film, and he does not change by the time it ends.