MovieChat Forums > The Searchers (1956) Discussion > The End (possible spoiler)

The End (possible spoiler)

posted 7 years ago by bonidea
1 reply | jump to latest

Debbie was rescued after five years as a Comanche wife/woman/slave. She didn't seem to want to be, but her brother convinced her "home" was better, a home where she'd be a wife/woman/slave but that was okay because she wouldn't be a captive. You'd think in five years she'd have produced at least one child, but apparently not.

Would white settlers have accepted her as one of their own upon her return, or would she forever be seen as "tainted" and be an outcast? Did they live happily ever after, or was that just in Ethan's mind?

[–] ghtx 7 years ago

It isn't clear to me that she didn't have any children with her Comanche captors, even though they weren't shown (that might have been "too much" for audiences back in those days).

I think that her acceptance upon returning could be seen as ambiguous - maybe she was accepted, maybe not. People like Ethan would not accept her, and Ethan knew that, which is why he walked away at the end.