Western pioneer men displayed crude domestic manners as a badge of identity

Evidence

This man, the very type of a Western pioneer, bowed, threw himself into a rocking-chair, drew a spittoon beside him, cut a fresh quid of tobacco, began to chew energetically, and put his feet, cased in miry high boots, into which his trousers were tucked, on the top of the stove. He said he had horses which would both “lope” and trot, that some ladies preferred the Mexican saddle, that I could ride alone in perfect safety; and after a route had been devised, I hired a horse for two days. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 27

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how frontier settlers embodied a rough masculinity — echoes the worldbuilding of 1800s California settlements in period fiction and nonfiction alike. — connects to: The West’s self-image as civilized required the constructed Other to define against — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 670; Wild West men showed unusual respectful courtesy toward the lone lady traveler — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 36; The noble savage image framed colonized peoples as noble in their wildness — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 651 (+1 more)

Related

• Wild West men showed unusual respectful courtesy toward the lone lady traveler (similarity 0.86)
• Backcountry Western men insisted on courteous respect toward women. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• The West’s self-image as civilized required the constructed Other to define against #qualifies (0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 670
• Wild West men showed unusual respectful courtesy toward the lone lady traveler #contradicts (0.75) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 36
• The noble savage image framed colonized peoples as noble in their wildness #complicates (0.72) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 651
• Respectability politics converted menial work into skilled identity rather than merely outward manners #expands (0.72) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 964