Dead man's hand in popular culture feature the aces and eights hand as a foreshadowing of death. In "Stagecoach" (1939), the hand is held by Luke Plummer (Tom Tyler), soon to be shot by the Ringo Kid (John Wayne). In "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962), Liberty Valance draws the hand just prior to his death. In Anthony Mann's film "Winchester '73", "Dutch" Henry lays down a full house, aces over eights, stating that he just missed a "dead man's hand." In the 1941 Western "The Badlands of Dakota", Wild Bill Hickok, played by Richard Dix, is shown to be holding the aces and eights
What Is Man? (Twain essay) What Is Man? (Twain essay) "What Is Man?" is a short story by American writer Mark Twain, published in 1906. It is a dialogue between a Young Man and an Old Man regarding the nature of man. The title refers to Psalm 8:4, which begins "what is man, that you are mindful of him...". It involves ideas of determinism and free will, as well as of psychological egoism. The Old Man asserts that the human being is merely a machine, and nothing more, driven by the singular purpose to satisfy his own desires and achieve peace of mind. The Young