The Grave story
A hired killer is challenged to visit the grave of the outlaw who died swearing vengeance against him. Directed by: Montgomery Pittman. Story by: Montgomery Pittman.
8 total · 6 major · 2 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| courage | major | Miller wanted to demonstrate his courage by going to Pinto Sykes' potentially haunted grave. |
| cowardice | major | Sykes had accused Miller of cowardice on his deathbed. |
| fear | major | The entire story focuses on whether the gun-for-hire Miller was afraid of the outlaw Pinto Sykes in life and, indeed, after his death. |
| human vs. spirit | major | Miller worried that the late Pinto Sykes might pull him down into the world of the dead in some sort of posthumous act of vengeance. |
| life in the American Wild West | major | Set in a dusty frontier town, the story follows the ambush of the outlaw Pinto Sykes and its eerie aftermath. |
| the need to prove one's self | major | Miller was goaded into proving his courage by going to Sykes' grave in the middle of the night. |
| coping with the death of a family member | minor | Ione mourned the loss of her brother with booze. She also brought the plate that her brother had eaten off of as a child to lay on his grave. |
| facing death | minor | We heard of Pinto Sykes' last half hour in life and what he did. |