Robert Pippin embodies the essence of character Ethan 's implication in the mysteries being posed in "The Searchers" by John Ford. His article analysis several factors that contribute to Ethan 's desire to assassinate Debbie and his choice to not go ahead with killing Debbie using a web of relationships that were linked to both instances and to Ethan 's past and present. This paper will examine in reference to Pippin 's article what provoked the mysteries being posed by Ford, and lastly articulate an opinion supporting or opposing Pippin 's claims.
Firstly, Pippin (2009) states that "the community does not reject Ethan; they rather ceremoniously ignore him and pretend he doesn 't exist" This is an indication of the relationship Ethan had
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In addition, the relationship between Ethan and the Comanche contained hostility from the beginning of the film. One begins to notice that Ethan 's attempt or desire to kill Debbie and his change of heart in regard to the killing of Debbie are partly associated with his hate for the Comanche community. Ethan 's only reason for seeking to acquire revenge towards the Comanche and for despising them is because they murdered Martha, Pippin claims that throughout the film while Ethan was on his quest to
" spew racist invective towards the Comanche , mutilate the bodies of dead Comanche members , shoot out the eyes of dead Indians (Pippin,2009,230)he formed his intention to kill Debbie which he intended to do because he believed it was shameful for a white girl to live among Indians(Pippin, 2009,242) ,
but when one pays close attention to Ethan 's behaviour one comes to discover that his opinion and attitude towards the Comanche is not aligned with his actions. This is viewed when Ethan was in the midst of "look" Martins wife purchased due to a misunderstanding with several Comanche members , when Ethan was in the midst of look he did not display any hatred or racism towards her which proves that the Comanche played a minor role in Pippin 's claims about why Ethan wanted to kill Debbie. It was mainly influenced by Ethan himself, his own identity and sentiments, which leads to the last point of this paper addressing the two mysteries in