Reading Novels: How to Read The First Fast Draw by Louis L'Amour
Why do you read novels? How do you read a novel? They seem like odd questions to ask, but I am serious. Reading novels is an art. I usually read fiction for entertainment. But while I am reading, I am looking for information that I can apply personally and professionally. I am also connecting what I am reading to what I already know. I don’t read in a vacuum. A few months ago, when I started round one of the Read the World Extreme Reading Challenge, one of the participants asked me to add a western novel to the reading requirements. I have been thinking about it, so I decided to read a western novel, and I chose, a book by the Master. I read The First Fast Draw
by Louis L'Amour.
Above, I talked about how I read. While reading The First Fast Draw, I felt sorry for the main character, Cullen Baker. Baker returns after the American Civil War, and all he wants to do is cultivate the land he inherits from his father. Other people want the land because the soil is rich. And people who oppressed him as a child, want to pick up where they left off. I realized that reading novels can teach you empathy.
As I am reading The First Fast Draw, I am thinking about bullying and the dangers of greed. When someone oppresses you or tries to oppress you, do you walk away? Or do you stand up for yourself? How do you decide which battles to fight? The community views Cullen Baker as the bad seed who has returned home. But most people seem to forget that he became tough because of those who tried to bully and oppress him when he was a child, simply because he was poor. Cullen Baker had to quickly learn how to stand up for himself and his family. In one section in the book, we learn how several people attacked him and his father. The father sustained a head injury and was never the same again. How does someone respond to that kind of abuse?
Related Post: Review – How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
Reading Novels: Lessons from The First Fast Draw by Louis L'Amour
Although the land was still untamed, at the time the book is set, many of the influencers in the community are corrupt. Despite everything, there are a few people who support him, and will fight beside him. They obviously see the good in him. There are three parts in the story that I found poignant.
To set the stage for the first part I am referring to, Cullen Baker cannot draw his gun very fast. He has to quickly solve the problem else he will get killed.
“After all, what’s there to thinking? The way I figure it there was so much a body could do with a mind. You could take the various possibilities and line them up, and then eliminate the ones that weren’t practical. The main idea was to stay with an idea until all the possibilities were worked out…. Right then I started to practice, drawing that pistol again and again, and sighting at whatever mark showed.”
This is a vivid scene for me. When you face a problem, you have to think about the situation. Then you have to identify possible solutions. By the process of elimination, you select the best solution. Cullen Baker practices drawing his gun. And he often practiced for seven hours. And he practiced every day, until he developed a way to draw his gun very fast. He became the first fast draw. I am not looking at what he does for a living. I am looking at how he became good at what he does. There are no shortcuts to honing a skill, you have to invest the hours. You have to practice, practice and practice.
In another scene I found poignant, Cullen Baker is in jail waiting to be hung. He knows there won’t be a trial and that he has to find a way to escape. He knows that his friends will try to free him. But he doesn’t want them harmed. He spends a lot of time trying to find a weak spot in the cell, so he can escape. Because of his dogged determination, he finds an unlikely way – through the ceiling. What this tells me, is that if you work at it hard and long enough, you will find a solution to almost any problem.
In the last scene I found poignant, Cullen Baker escapes. He is fearful because he senses impending doom.
“I never figured it was a cowardly thing to be scared. It’s to be scared and still to face up to what scares you that matters.”
The quote reminds me of Susan Jeffer's book, Feel the Fear and do it Anyway
. There are many times in your life when you will feel fearful, but you have to find a way to work through your fear to get what you want.
Conclusion: Reading Novels: The First Fast Draw by Louis L'Amour
Reading novels can teach you many lessons, but you can easily miss them if you do not stop to reflect on them. The First Fast Draw by Louis L'Amour is worth the read.
The First Fast Draw: A NovelHow to Read Literature Like a Professor
Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway
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