Hi, TomTurner, and welcome to the Board!
This is a thoughtful post. Personally, I don't think Josey could have had any idea, after hearing Grandma Sarah talk, that he had killed her son, specifically, among the many other deaths he was responsible for. How would he have known what he looked like? For the same reason, Grandma couldn't have suspected him, specifically, among the many other "Missouri ruffians" her son had done battle with, of being her son's killer. She had never seen him before. But they certainly each understood that this was a possibility, and that is what makes their relationship so tense in the beginning, and their mutual reconciliation and the "new harmonious life" they embark on with the rest of the makeshift family so moving.
From that post you referenced in the "Film Discussion Thread" for
The Outlaw Josey WalesFurther along in the movie, we note that Grandma Sarah has a change of heart when she prays aloud:
GRANDMA SARAH: Lord, thanks a lot for bringing us to this place. Pa and Daniel died at the hands of that low-down, murdering trash out of hell that done 'em in. But they put up a good fight, and died the best they could. And thanks a lot for Josey Wales, who you changed from a murdering bushwhacker on the side of Satan to a better man in time to deliver us from the Philistines. And thank you, Lord, for getting us together in Texas.
Grandma Sarah seems to think that Josey is the one who has changed, rather than herself. Discuss what you think finally precipitates her change of heart.
I think they both have changed. Especially in a civil war like this, where atrocities were committed by both sides, each believing firmly that their cause was the just one and the other side deserved what it got, it would be hard not to see those on the opposite side as entirely evil. But when the war is over, and the scarred human beings have to live with one another, they have to find a way to change themselves, and recognize that others may have changed as well. Of course there were die-hards who would never allow their prejudices to soften even a little bit, and if their whole family has been slaughtered, we can understand that. But we feel more for those who are able to overcome their past and live with hope towards a better future.
In the movie, the final shot is a freeze frame. Josey is badly wounded, but he has killed his archenemy Terrill (who he does know was responsible for killing his wife and son at the beginning) and is free for the moment of further pursuit by the vengeful Union troops, thanks to the support of the saloon patrons and Fletcher. Now we see Josey riding off, not into the sunset as in Western cliché, but into the sunrise. But to what destination? Here is another question posed in that long-ago "Film Discussion Thread":
At the end of the movie, Josey, wounded, leaves the scene of his showdown with Terrill and his tacit reconciliation with Fletcher, and starts to ride off into the sunrise. He is caught in a freeze frame, and the final credits come up. What happens next? Do you think Josey is going back to his surrogate family, or is he going off by himself, as he had intended to do earlier that morning? Do you think he will survive, or will he die of his wounds? If he lives, will he attempt to start a new a life with Laura Lee and the others? Why or why not?
The best answer we got in that thread (or the one I agreed with most, anyway), was from mgk:
In my opinion, Josey rides off toward the ranch where everyone is waiting for him. He has reluctantly gathered up this new family of his but he's very grateful to have them around. He hopes that now that the Texas Rangers think that he is dead and Fletcher has given him a new opportunity to get rid of his "hunted man" image, he is ready to settle down again and make something of him life similar to the way it was when he lost his first family at the beginning of the movie.
But don't forget the last line spoken in the move, "I reckon we all died a little in that damned war."
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