Thanks to modern technology, messages can be sent in seconds to virtually anywhere in the world. However, this was not always the case. In 1860, the Pony Express was used to deliver mail and small packages across the United States, particularly throughout the west. The job was no easy task. According to the National Park Service, riders would ride “more than 1,800 miles in 10 days! From St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California the Pony Express could deliver a letter faster than ever before. ” Due to the harsh conditions the riders and station workers had to endure, only men were allowed to work for the company.
Even though the Pony Express was only in operation for nineteen months, it became associated with certain aspects of western culture and since then has been featured in many novels and western films. The television show The Young Riders gives a powerful insight to what it would be like to live in the wild west and to be a rider for the Pony Express. The Young Riders is a western drama set in the mid-1800s about a group of teenagers who are desperate for money and decide to work for the Pony Express.
With its sepia-toned images and lively music, the show reinforces the feel of the old, western times with a romantic, yet lighthearted mood as it takes place in locations along the Pony Express delivery routes and follows the dangerous encounters and tall tales of the riders. The Young Riders gives a realistic insight as to what everyday life in the west was like and contains real problems that can be related to today, but the actors’ reactions to the scenarios are somewhat exaggerated. The town is stereotypical to those in western films and the people within the town are even more so. They are tough, gruff, and unafraid to pull the trigger.
In the episode “Lady For a Night,” Lou, who is a female rider disguised as a male, decides to go as her normal female self to a saloon in Sweetwater, Kansas, an imaginary town that contained a relief station for the Pony Express. On the way, she encounters Tyler, an overly-friendly bachelor who proceeds to take her out to dinner. As Lou gets to know Tyler better, she begins to pick up on some of his strange actions. Meanwhile, robberies are occurring more and more frequently in the area. Lou ends up being captured and physically abused by Tyler, and she also discovers that he is responsible for the robberies.
Lou chases Tyler down on horseback as he tries to flee from justice, and she then proceeds to kill him. Although the show is fictional, there are some very real issues to be noted. In one of the show’s opening scenes, Tyler, who was unknown to the viewer at the time, was in a bedroom with another woman. Her face was bruised, and she had been crying. A man confronted Tyler and demanded for him to stop abusing the girl, and Tyler simply dropped some money in the man’s hand and walked away. This foreshadowed the true nature of Tyler that would be revealed to Lou later on in the episode.
When Lou first encountered Tyler, he appeared to her as a charming gentleman. He said flattering things and made her feel desired. However, the more time they spent together, the more Lou began to see that his true desire wasn’t for her, but for control. For example, Tyler told Lou that he “never takes no for an answer” just before he slapped her in the face (“Lady”). This gives the impression that he is powerful and always gets what he wants. Tyler deceived Lou in numerous ways, and the fact that he was such an effective liar only made him seem even more powerful.
His flattering words made Lou feel valued because she’d “never been treated that way by a man before,” but she quickly discovered that people, men in particular, are not always who they appear to be (“Lady”). Tyler had simply put on a facade of charm in order to get what he wanted. This was also evidenced when Tyler subtly, yet persistently kept offering Lou more champagne during dinner and proceeded to tell her that he owned an insurance company, only for her to find out later that he had been overseeing the robberies that had been aking place in the area.
By trying to make Lou intoxicated and telling her nothing but lies, Tyler showed that he had other intentions—intentions that would later prove to be very harmful to Lou. Could the reason behind Tyler’s desire for control over Lou be that it made him feel more powerful? Was Lou just another person to overpower, to abuse in whatever way he saw fit? This issue of physical abuse in relationships is occurring more and more frequently in teenagers, with girls being the victim more often than boys (Fox, 512).
In a study done to record teenagers’ experiences of domestic abuse, Claire Fox claims that “overall, girls were more likely to have experienced physical violence than boys, and the violence girls experienced were more likely to have been repeated. ” Lou was physically abused by Tyler multiple times and with such force that her blood was spilled. This kind of behavior affects young people as much as it does adults, and it is an issue that should not be overlooked (Fox, 510). Despite the slaps to the face, the bruises, and the forced sexual contact, Lou continued to resist.
The abuse did not evoke a sense of fear in Lou, although fear is a common side effect to abuse, but rather a determination for justice to be brought to Tyler (Fox, 521). A common reaction of a man who is faced with wrongdoing (or abuse) is anger, but that is not always the case for women (Fox, 521). Lou held her own against Tyler and proved that women are not to be underestimated. She effectively reinforced this belief when she pointed a gun at his chest, and just before the fatal shot was fired, she so determinedly declared, “Don’t be surprised, you had it comin’ [for you],” (“Lady’).
The trigger was pulled, and Lou was no longer subject to Tyler’s abuse. Another prominent issue featured in the episode was Lou’s job with the Pony Express. During that time period, women were seen as weak-minded and incapable of doing the same type of work as men. This is further evidenced by Lou, having to disguise herself as a man to work for the Pony Express. Typically, the woman would take care of the house, cooking and cleaning. Lou creates a sense of irony as she fulfilled this task that was meant for a man. She deepened her tone of voice and wore glasses, baggy clothing, and a typical riding hat to conceal her true identity.
If anyone (besides her fellow riding partners) discovered that she was a female, she would be fired from her job. Why should women be seen as unqualified to work alongside men? In today’s society, women are advocates for equality. Rallies are formed; petitions are signed; and boundaries are crossed. Women took a stand for to work alo men and are no longer held to the standard of a “woman” that was present in the late 1800s. By the start of the 21st century, a shift in cultural norms had occurred, and women slowly began to find their places in the workforce (Carnes, 71).
Today, women account for nearly half of the American labor force and “generate huge revenue for America… ” (Carnes, 71). Still, there is an ongoing issue with men remaining dominant over women in the labor department. Women are too often discriminated against simply because of their gender, and as a result, there is a “glass ceiling” effect occurring. Some other contributing factors to the glass ceiling effect may be that women are being stereotyped and held back by men (Carnes, 73). Why should a woman be bound to a stereotype of not being capable of doing the same things as a man?
In a recent study conducted to compare women’s leadership traits to men’s, women matched or transcended men in honesty, hard work, intelligence, creativity, and outgoingness (Carnes, 73). Lou was considered one of the best riders for the Pony Express by many of her male colleagues and was accepted by them for who she was. She was not treated differently by them or ostracized for simply being a woman. She worked just as efficiently as her male counterparts, if not better. She was seen as equal and worked hard to hold her place alongside the men. Male dominance was a key issue throughout the episode and was demonstrated in several ways.
Tyler’s obsession with control over women negatively affected Lou by causing her physical harm, and his many lies caused other issues within the episode as well. Lou also had to go against the cultural norm and join a male-dominated workforce in order to earn a living for herself, which was no easy task. In spite of all the challenges Lou faced in the episode, she proved that a woman can stand her ground when she is mistreated and truly deserves to work alongside men. Lou proved that a woman could effectively hold her own against a male dominance-based society.
