| -> | | | | Hastings' rifle is fired only once at a turning point in |
| In the novel "The Travels of Annie T. Hastings, the | | | | the story. Unlike Oakley who practiced shooting, |
| 70 year old woman protagonist is a birthmother on a | | | | Hastings has little desire to use her gun and even |
| mission: to find the daughter she gave away 35 | | | | suspects that it would do little in her battle with the |
| years earlier. On a shoestring budget she crosses the | | | | "negative energy" that she perceives is attacking her. |
| country on this quest. Of the several themes | | | | This is made clear early in the first journal when she |
| apparent in the novel, one theme is clear: Annie T. | | | | says, "...pea-shooters, like my rifle, aren't much help |
| Hastings is much like Annie Oakley. The obvious | | | | against that kind of force." The connection through |
| connection is the name, but there are more subtle | | | | antithesis is also clear in that Oakley fires her gun at |
| connections that will be explored in this essay. | | | | targets; Hastings has her gun for protection, and she |
| The opening line clearly connects Annie T. Hastings to | | | | intends to use it on people if necessary. She even |
| Annie Oakley. "The first things packed were the | | | | sleeps with it when she stays in a rundown motel in |
| porcelain dolls. The last thing was the gun." Both | | | | Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. One of the |
| Annies had guns. Annie T. Hastings refers to hers in | | | | most insight lines of her story is when she states, |
| the second sentence of her journal. It is a part of | | | | "And I'm planning to sleep atop the bedcovers with |
| her and a symbol of her personality. There are two | | | | the Rimfire [her rifle] across my chest. The loaded |
| sides to both Annies. Annie Oakley had her guns but | | | | gun, like men sometimes, seems like a necessary |
| also was a lover of men, one being Frank Butler. The | | | | thing, but I don't sleep well with either one." Here |
| contemporary Annie T. Hastings has her rifle and | | | | Hastings demonstrates her anxiety with men and her |
| becomes a lover of men, though she certainly does | | | | anxiety at being vulnerable, hence her gun. |
| not start out that way. The rifle symbolizes the | | | | The connection of the two Annies is also seen in |
| strength, vitality and potential dangerous disposition | | | | their ages - again the opposite highlights the |
| of both women. This is certainly true of Annie T. | | | | connection. The Oakley we know from movies and |
| Hastings who seems to be in combat with most of | | | | plays is young and vibrant. Hastings, on the other |
| the people she comes in contact with. Annie T. | | | | hand, is slightly past seventy. Both are adventurous. |
| Hastings' rifle is a symbol of her constant state of | | | | Both are portrayed as sassy and feisty. Both are |
| war with the world. Her perception of life and people | | | | unique personalities that break the molds of their |
| are askew and this creates constant tension for her. | | | | time. Both women are based on real life women who |
| And the gun represents that part of her. (The | | | | had extraordinary lives. Both are complex. Annie T. |
| porcelain dolls, the first things packed, represents her | | | | Hastings is an American woman who, like Oakley, |
| maternal side, her loving side which she finds hard to | | | | deserves to become a classic character. But one |
| reveal.) | | | | must decide for oneself after reading "The Travels |
| Unlike Annie Oakley, Annie T. Hastings is not a good | | | | of Annie T. |
| shot. This is a connection through antithesis. Annie | | | | |