French Kissing and the Social Actions of Billy the Kid

            In this modern era, much thought is put into how one interacts with their peers, friends, colleagues, and family members.  There are a variety of branches of study that put this thought and consideration into scientific terms that define these socialization trends and interpersonal relationships.  However, this information is not always as complicated as these areas of study make them appear to be.  On radicalcartography.net, under the label of “defining a region” there is a map entitled “French kissing” that puts a French social phenomenon into a simpler perspective. 

            I thought this map was interesting for multiple reasons.  Obviously, one does not usually think of French greeting rituals and how they can relate to our modern lives, but for me, this map made me pause and consider the interactions that I’ve witnessed, not only in my own life, but in the novels we’ve read in this class.  In France alone, it is clear that there is a wide variation in the number of times one would kiss a friend when greeting them.  In terms of each region, this would determine not only how polite the kisser is, but also the level of friendship the two kissers have. To me, this variation in social greetings reminded me of Billy the Kid and his interactions with his male and female friends in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid.  In his small social circle, there were a wide variety of interactions.  We can assume that, as a result of his social interactions with Sallie Chisum, he eventually makes the impression on her of being “bad mixed in with good,” presumably due to his reputation as an outlaw, even though on page 53 in their first meeting, he is presented to her as “a good looking, clear-eyed boy” who when “I [Sallie] stretched out my hand automatically to him, he grasped it in a hand as small as my own”. 

Although Billy is presented as an outlaw (bad mixed in with good) he also followed by the social norm of a handshake to maintain the socially acceptable presence of being polite.  This distinction between being the polite and seemingly kind fellow that he is when he first meets Sallie and the fellow who has “bad mixed in with the good”, according to Sallie, shows that somewhere over the period of their friendship, she saw that his actions as an outlaw deviated from the social norm of politeness, and those actions counteracted the polite gesture he presented her at her first meeting.

In terms of both of these pieces of information, it is evident that the type of social interaction depends on the level of friendship between the two people.  In France, kissing is the equivalent of being a friend, and following the norms for kissing maintains that friendship.  However, in terms of Billy the Kid, even though the friendly norms of hand-shaking are followed the label of “outlaw” can cause the opinions of others to view you as less ‘good’, regardless of how polite you present yourself to be.