Sheldon Scruggs

Ain't Suppose to Die a Natural Death: Part I: Bondage Sheldon Scruggs

During the heyday of the cattle drives in the old west, roughly a third of all the cowboys were of African, Mexican and Indian descent. This book is the fictionalized account of the life of a real black cowboy named Nat Love, who also called himself Deadwood Dick. Ain?t Suppose to Die a Natural Death is the classic story of good versus evil. What makes the inner struggle difficult for Nat Love is that the ?line? separating good and evil is sometimes obscure. The book is divided into two sub-books or volumes. In book I: Bondage, Nat, (a former slave), travels west to become a cowboy. It is there that he allows his basic desires to dominate him. Much like the protagonists in Crime and Punishment, Native Son, The Emperor Jones and even The Call of the Wild, Nat feels the necessity to adapt in a hostile and indifferent world by being hostile. He creates his own morality ? making good, evil and evil, good. Blessed with superior intellectual abilities, Nat pursues a path of wealth, power and prestige; and, in textbook Machiavellian style, he uses and destroys the lives of individuals to promote those goals. For him, ?the end justifies the means? and people are dispensable. He begins his journey of destruction by assuming leadership of a little known Indian tribe and later becomes a much feared bounty hunter. As a gunslinger, he calls himself Deadwood Dick. In Book II: Redemption, Nat is the leader of a thriving black township called Pompey. But when a tragic event, of Nat?s own making, nearly destroys the town, the stage is set for Nat?s redemption. He comes to understand that there are absolute moral standards ? standards created by a loving, omnipotent God. He also comes to understand that following this God may mean making hard sacrifices. Some contemporary issues are woven into the story. Abortion, the politics of race and color and moral relatively are some age old issues Nat has to deal with. Regardless of race, gender and religious persuasion, the books hold up mirrors