Summary
Summary of The Fighting Edge
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Two lonely lives face a test
In the cattle country of western Colorado, June Tolliver and Bob Dillon begin with little but loneliness and fear. June lives with her father in a mountain cabin and meets the world with a sharp tongue. Bob is a gentle, red-haired orphan working at a telephone camp. He wants badly to be brave, but wanting and acting are not the same.
Their story turns on what happens when fear becomes a public test, and whether a person can recover from failing it.
Key idea 2
A secret traps June
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Key idea 3
An escape becomes a marriage
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Key idea 4
Fear breaks their fragile shelter
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Key idea 5
Kindness interrupts the town's harsh judgment
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Key idea 6
Friendship leaves room for fear
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Key idea 7
Bob starts standing his ground
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Key idea 8
Courage can exist beside fear
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Key idea 9
Small moments reveal a person's character
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
Readers who love cowboy country, bunkhouse humor and old frontier towns will enjoy it. So will anyone who likes a young hero who grows into his courage, a spirited heroine, and a villain worth watching.
What this book is
The Fighting Edge is a western novel by William MacLeod Raine. It is set in the cattle country of western Colorado, along the Rio Blanco, in the years after the Meeker massacre. It follows two young people who begin with little but loneliness and fear. June Tolliver is a ragged, sharp-tongued girl who lives in a mountain cabin with her father. Bob Dillon is a red-haired orphan with a gentle nature who works as a flunky at a telephone camp.
Raine builds the book on one question that the frontier asked of every man: what will you do when the test comes? Bob wants badly to be brave, and he finds that wanting is not enough. One bad evening marks him in front of the whole valley, and the rest of the novel asks whether a man can win back his name. Around that question you find a runaway wedding, a fat justice of the peace with a stutter and a stock of sermons, a boarding-house keeper with a soft heart, and a big, grinning bully who thinks he owns the girl.
You get roundups in snow, river crossings, and a night with drunken Utes in a cabin. You also get a good deal of rough western humor. The story begins at sunset in a doorway on Piceance Creek, where a stranger arrives and a girl senses that her father's silence is about to break.
In this summary
- 1A Ragged Girl and a StrangerFree
- 2A Secret Used as a Chain
- 3A Pistol, a Buckboard, a Wedding
- 4The White Feather and the Storm
- 5Mollie, Blister, and a Hanging Averted
- 6Bronc, Ute Feast, and a Friend
- 7A Bully, a Winter, a Mad Dog, a War
- 8What the Book Says About Courage
- 9How the Story Is Told
Key point 1 of 9
A Ragged Girl and a Stranger
The novel opens at sunset in a cabin on Piceance Creek, deep in the Colorado hills. June Tolliver, nearly sixteen, stands in the doorway in a dingy dress, torn stockings and heavy brogans, her black hair blowing wild. She lives alone with her father Pete, a trapper and small-time rancher. Their nearest neighbor is a trapper on Eighteen-Mile Hill, and month after month she sees no other woman.
June lives next to a secret she feels is shameful but can only guess at. She remembers a sweet, dark-eyed mother who is now a pile of stones in Brown's Park. She remembers a stern aunt in Rawlins, Wyoming, and a night when a gaunt, frightened man called himself her father. Her father never speaks of those years, and she has learned not to ask.
Then a big, dark man knocks at the door. He says he is Jake Houck, an old friend of her father, and he watches June cook with a cold, possessive stare. Pete goes pale at the sight of him and turns falsely cheerful. June notices that her father is afraid, and she wonders why.
Houck stays the night. In the morning he tells June that he has taken a fancy to her and means to marry her soon. When she strikes him, he laughs, calls her a spunky little devil, and kisses her against her will. She runs inside, burning with rage and a dread she cannot name.
That same day she walks down the creek and finds a lanky red-haired boy lying on a rock, watching the sky. His name is Bob Dillon, and he is the only friend she has ever had.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why does June feel unable to refuse Houck?
Right. “She also understands that the only way to keep the law from her father is to keep Houck pleased.”Not quite. “She also understands that the only way to keep the law from her father is to keep Houck pleased.”
How does Dud protect Bob after their night in the cabin?
Right. “Dud tells the bunkhouse a funny version of the story and leaves out Bob's collapse, and Bob understands what kind of friend he has.”Not quite. “Dud tells the bunkhouse a funny version of the story and leaves out Bob's collapse, and Bob understands what kind of friend he has.”
What does Blister teach Bob about becoming brave?
Right. “Blister's lesson is that a man must act as if he were brave, and that the feeling will follow.”Not quite. “Blister's lesson is that a man must act as if he were brave, and that the feeling will follow.”
Questions about The Fighting Edge
What is The Fighting Edge about?
It follows June Tolliver, a lonely mountain girl, and Bob Dillon, a timid orphan, in cattle country on the Rio Blanco in Colorado. A bully pushes June toward marriage, and Bob must learn what courage means.
Who is Blister Haines in The Fighting Edge?
Blister Haines is the huge, bald, stuttering justice of the peace in Bear Cat. He marries June and Bob and then coaches Bob with homespun advice, telling him that he is made in the image of God.
Where and when is The Fighting Edge set?
It takes place in western Colorado, around the town of Bear Cat and the Rio Blanco country, a few years after the Meeker massacre. The cattle drives, bunkhouses and Ute troubles reflect the real frontier.
What is the main message of The Fighting Edge?
The book says courage is something a person chooses and practices, even when afraid. Bob learns that holding his head up and doing the next right thing matters more than feeling brave.
Is The Fighting Edge easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that it moves through short chapters with clear scenes, plain language, lively cowboy talk and a good deal of humor. The story is direct, and the characters are easy to follow.
