Shane, of course, culminates in an inexorable and violent showdown in which the gunfighter expertly dispatches Fletcher and Wilson; the novel's narrator, Bob Starrett, witnesses these killings. Nevertheless, the violent episodes in Shane are brief and never milked for sensationalism. Indeed, there is always a sense in Shane that such violence has been "earned" through Schaefer's manipulation of plot and character: the gunfire at the novel's end is far from gratuitous. Shane himself is perhaps the most reluctant gunfighter— and the most reluctantly violent man— to be found in any modern western. The profanity in the 1949 edition of Shane has been largely excised in every edition since 1954. Further, a special edition of the novel aimed specifically at juvenile audiences is available.