The Day the Cowboys Quit, is a highly acclaimed novel written by Elmer Kelton. The book is set in 1883 in the rigid Texas panhandle. Kelton explores many different themes within the novel but primarily focuses on the changing dynamic both socially and politically and of the West and the fight of good vs evil. The book focuses on High Hitchcock, who was a cowboy that at the time of the Canadian River Cowboy Strike of 1883. Hitchcock was furious that cowboys were portrayed as arrogant men that rode their horse and shot guns all day. When in reality they were hardworking men "and some had never owned a gun" The main conflict of the book revolves around Big ranchers, new comers, trying to take control over more of the west and taking it from …show more content…
Hitchcock was asked to be a neutral judge in determining who the cow belonged to. The other cowboys gravitated towards Hitchcock and followed him, mainly because of his character. After much debating and arguing Hitchcock concluded that the Cow belonged to Rascal McGinty and had been branded a LR. This fueled the Figure 4 cowboys, while the W cowboys were having supper around the campfire. A Figure 4 ranch manager rode up and began accusing them of stealing cattle and gave an example of how the 4 brands could be easily changed to be a LR with two simple lines. They took offence to this accusation and drew their guns. Thankfully Hitch was able to stop from any violence or gunshot happening. After this incident, many of the major owners within the areas had come to the agreement that there had to be changes, especially with how Charlie let his men run their own cattle. For many years prior to this altercation, many cowboys could start cattle businesses with small herds, raised them on open grass fields and eventually gather enough cattle to develop into larger herds. Cowboys worked for the ranchers however they were also free to brand the maverick calves as their own and thus build their own herds. This gave room for prosperity for cowboys if they had enough ambition. Joe Sands broke his leg the next morning following the incident, and Hitch was given the responsibility of getting him to the doctor. After dropping Joe off at the doctor, Hitch wandered into a cowboy bar that was ran by Fant Gosset. While drinking, Asher Cottingham entered the bar and slammed down a piece of paper onto the bar. He was complaining about the new rules that ranchers planned to impose onto cowboys. Asher also spoke about a cowboy strike to impose the ranchers to raise wages and to get them to abolish the new rules. Hitch did