Martin Cruz Smith
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Martin Cruz Smith, in his novel Stallion Gate, sets American-Indian Joe Pena at the center of the action for a number of reasons. Pena himself serves as a gate from world to world. As a chauffeur he literally delivers the various participants from one to another. As an American-Indian he connects the old traditional ways and the modern scientific ways of Oppenheimer, et al., as well as serving as a bridge between the American-Indian land and the land on which the testing of the first atomic bomb will take place. As might be expected, Joe himself is torn with respect to which world he belongs to---the traditional American-Indian world or the modern world of science and atomic weapons.Joe can be seen as a personification of the historic crossroads at which the world stood in that era. Nothing would be the same after the testing of the bomb---which actually occurs in the last line of the book. The testing of the bomb can also be seen as the end of Joe's life as he flees the blast on foot: "Last step. Last heartbeat. Last breath. 'NOW!' From the eye of the new sun, a shadow flying" (Smith 321). Could the message be that after that test there could be no more Joe Penas, no individuals sitting on the fence between the two worlds, claiming to be cynical about both of them? For that is one of Joe's major roles in the novel---to portray the individual who refuses to take sides, who claims some allegiances and responsibilities to both worlds, but remains uncommitted to either.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Joe Pena, Joe Trinity, Army Smith, American-Indian Army, Harvey Oppenheimer, Joe Penas, Joe Indian, Joe Oppenheimer, Stallion Gate, Indian Smith, atomic bomb, joe pena, traditional american-indian, stallion gate, success novel, martin cruz,
Approximate Word count = 1068
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)
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