Roughing It · Chapter
Chapter II explained
The narrator and his companions depart from St.
What happens
The narrator and his companions depart from St. Joseph by overland stagecoach, burdened by luggage restrictions and armed with comically inadequate weapons. They travel across the Kansas plains, experiencing a sense of freedom and encountering a talkative woman passenger who dominates the journey with relentless gossip.
Themes in this chapter
Humor and Exaggeration
Comic descriptions of the narrator's tiny pistol, Bemis's erratic Allen revolver, and the woman's mosquito-killing prowess.
Frontier Myth vs. Reality
The romantic notion of frontier freedom clashes with the mundane reality of cramped travel, heavy mail, and tedious conversation.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Describes the departure, the luggage struggle, and his Smith & Wesson seven-shooter; endures the talkative woman's monologue.
- George Bemis
Fellow traveler armed with an unreliable 'Allen' revolver; accidentally shoots a mule and is forced to buy it.
- Mr. Young
The narrator's brother, the Secretary, who brings heavy books and carries a Colt's revolver uncapped.
Key passages
“We were spinning along through Kansas, and in the course of an hour and a half we were fairly abroad on the great Plains.”
After an hour and a half of travel through Kansas, we found ourselves out on the vast plains.
Describes the rapid transition from town to open prairie.
“She would sit there in the gathering twilight and fasten her steadfast eyes on a mosquito rooting into her arm, and slowly she would raise her other hand till she had got his range, and then she would launch a slap at him that would have jolted a cow; and after that she would sit and contemplate the corpse with tranquil satisfaction—for she never missed her mosquito; she was a dead shot at short range.”
In the dim evening light, she would fix her gaze on a mosquito biting her arm, slowly raise her hand, and deliver a slap powerful enough to stagger a cow, then calmly admire the dead mosquito—she never missed.
Highlights the woman's peculiar skill and the narrator's amused observation.
“We resolved not to 'lay by at Cottonwood.'”
We decided we would not stop over at Cottonwood as she suggested.
Shows the narrator's determination to avoid further interaction with the talkative woman.