'Me--Smith'

"Me--Smith" by Caroline Lockhart is a novel from the early 1900s that introduces us to Smith, a tough man with a shady history trying to survive in the American West. Smith has a history of violence, but starts to form relationships with new people, like an Indian woman and a schoolteacher named Dora Marshall. The story begins with Smith traveling alone through empty lands, showing his troubled mind and search for who he is. As he meets other people, like someone he robs and an Indian he comes across, his life as an outlaw becomes very clear. Smith is clever, but also has complicated feelings for women as he gets to know both the Indian woman and Dora Marshall. He is both a killer and someone who wants to be close to others, and this contrast shapes how he changes throughout the plot. The early parts of the novel suggest Smith is trying to find his place in a world that feels both strange and like home, making readers wonder what choices he will make in the end.