Close Range Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 12 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Close Range.

Close Range Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 12 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Close Range.
This section contains 480 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Close Range Short Guide

Close Range Summary & Study Guide Description

Close Range Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:

This detailed literature summary also contains Related Titles on Close Range by E. Annie Proulx.

Preview of Close Range Summary:

Though Proulx's social concerns center on the peculiar privations suffered by Wyoming residents, thematically Close Range takes up issues pertaining to the universal traits of human nature. Even while they struggle against the harsh Wyoming environment, the characters in Proulx's stories try to situate themselves in a larger society.

Sometimes, the characters yearn for general acceptance, sometimes the fight takes place on a smaller scale as individuals deal with familial strife.

One of the principal ways in which the characters of Close Range try to fit in involves meeting the expectations of gender.

Proulx suggests that Wyoming's culture places particular emphasis on masculinity, but men's need to demonstrate their manliness permeates all cultures. Her treatment of this subject, then, is truly a thematic one.

Perhaps the most obvious examples of men self-consciously trying to assert their masculinity can be found in "The Mud Below" and "Job History." In...

This section contains 480 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Close Range Short Guide
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Gale
Close Range from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.