Answer:
The Wild West portrayed in the popular image or the myth, is nothing compared to the reality of what it was like. Popular image such as movies, portrayes it as this all dangerous place where people have gun duos constantly.
However, the reality is, the Wild West was just simply a place that was established shortly after the Homestead Act. This act basically gave out free land for people looking to move West. After they arrived in the West, they typically became farmers, miners, or cowboys.
All three of these jobs were considered dangerous, but not in a gun duo way. In fact, it was illegal to carry guns in some places in the West. They were dangerous in the way of mother nature. For example, if you were a farmer, you had the risk of your crops being destroyed by the weather.
Cowboys are also portrayed differently than in popular myth. They are portrayed as these dangerous people that carry guns. In fact a Cowboy was just a job of herding cattle. A Cowboy had the chance of being ran over and killed by their cattle. A Cowboy was harder work with little pay. They also had the disadvantage of not knowing what the weather was going to do that day, just like a farmer.
To wrap it up, the Wild West portrayed in popular myths is far different from reality. It was only dangerous in the way of mother nature, and gun duos were not common. Cowboys were just simply people that herded cattle. All of these things were established after the Homestead Act granting free land to the public.