Jan 09 2009
The Sub-theme of Revenge
Revenge is a compelling theme that runs throughout many of Louis L’amour’s books. Often it is vengeance for some act that happened while the protagonist was still a very young person. This revenge then takes the character on a series of adventures that leave him fairly alone and without purpose in the world. The course of revenge provides the character with the ability to survive, the tools to fight, and a knowledge of bad men.
Both “Kiowa Trail” and “Taggart” feature revenge as a sub-theme and sub-motive of the main character. They are presented as background information for the main character and apparently have little to do with the main plot of the story, but without the revenge of earlier years the main character could not really exist in their current state. Revenge provides a great place for a story to build and L’amour is expert in his ability to turn revenge into a thrilling and captivating tale or to use it to embellish a character into something believable and engaging.
