Hondo Lane, the main character of Hondo, like most L'Amour heroes, abandons the solitary life to marry a good woman, homestead and build up civilization. As a loner, he exemplifies the American values of courage, independence and self-sufficiency, while as a builder, he upholds such traditional middle-class American values as honesty, industry, loyalty, and love of family. Thus, the L'Amour hero unifies the opposing needs of the American character, needs established early by colonists desiring freedom from European constraints yet still working toward a civilized community.

Angie Lowe, Hondo's lady-love, likewise plays out what for long was recognized as the proper woman's role, whether on the frontier or in the suburban home: She keeps up her ranch and raises her child well. L'Amour uses Angie's father as mouthpiece for his own values, which reflect those of the 1950s: "To each of us is given a life...