Final answer:
Owen Wister's The Virginian and Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage both contribute to the Western genre, with the former depicting traditional values and the latter highlighting the rugged, individualist spirit of frontier life.
Step-by-step explanation:
The relationship between Owen Wister's The Virginian and Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey is crucial in understanding the evolution of the Western genre in American literature. The Virginian, often viewed as the first Western novel, is a story that emphasizes traditional values such as courtship, the importance of authority, and the healing power of family and marriage.
On the other hand, Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage presents a different picture of America, highlighting attributes such as pragmatism, individualism, and the struggles of outcasts on the frontier.
In Riders of the Purple Sage, the roles of men and women are critical to the plot's outcome and our understanding of the characters. Men like Lassiter and women like Jane Withersteen embody the rugged, individualistic spirit of the West, contrasting with the more traditional roles found in The Virginian. The two novels collectively provide a nuanced perspective of Western life and the complexities of social norms during the era of American westward expansion.