The Senseless Slaughter Chapter 1 Analysis

The next chapter reinforces this view of Billy when he does not merely relax happily with his horse but instead goes out riding again seeking more experience and adventure. Billy discovers, “…Little Grey seemed more than a match for any of the herd with one exception, and that one was a large, gaunt-bodied black stallion, that appeared to drop him behind without much effort” (Ingraham 6). So clearly this is a challenge for Billy that he will not refuse. Ultimately after a fight Billy tames the horse “Sable Satan.” So here is a kid, a kid mind you, that tames a horse that the whole town refers to in a scared devilish tone. But why would Billy go through all of this trouble? He just won this fantastic horse from the sergeant, one that outran

He becomes lovesick and decides to attempt to woo his old crush, Louise Ferderici. Reaching Missouri Buffalo Bill, “…soon won Louise over to his way of thinking, by promising he would settle down, and they were married…” (Ingraham 30). This all did not last however as “finding he could make more money on the plains, and that being to his liking he left his wife with his sisters and once more started for the far West, this time as a Government scout at Fort Ellsworth” (Ingraham 30). Buffalo Bill begins here as he does all of his stories, seeking to accomplish something. Here, he wants to accomplish curing his lovesick heart. So he goes across the country, tells a girl he will settle with her, and convinces her to marry him. He has this new experience that he wanted in the first place and is happy. What this experience means however is that it should be his last. Now he may retire to a home with his wife and settle there with her. That all does not sound appealing to him. This husband has been a man since he was eight, a career that he is tied to so strongly, much stronger than he is to this woman he just remembered last week. Nevertheless, he agrees and settles with her, but becomes so restless that he must leave again, here for a military position. So Buffalo Bill once again opts for pain and suffering over luxury. He has it all here, plenty of money

When Bill is asked to perform he has a terrible time with is and even recites the cues. A Victorian man before him would’ve absolutely known this. Men before the Antimodernist movement were well versed in the arts and most had performed in some capacity or some sense. Either way they would’ve felt more comfortable in this role than on Buffalo back. Bill however knows nothing of the like, up to this moment there’s no evidence that he can do anything particularly scholarly at all. Here he is entirely out of his element. The performance is not a free experience but a staged scene. Once Bill goes out there and is in it and improvises somewhat that is where he feels comfortable, acting on instinct, doing as he has always