Proulx's main concern is with the hardness of life in Wyoming. The subtitle of her short story collection, "Wyoming Stories," indicates her interest in the dynamics of a particular place. The time of her stories spans over a century. She relates the difficulties faced by ranchers in the nineteenth century as well as the failure of modern farmers. In the conclusion of "People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water," Proulx explicitly states her belief that Wyoming residents of today face the same privations endured by their ancestors a century ago: "That was all sixty years ago and more.
Those hard days are finished. . . . We are in a new millennium and such desperate things no longer happen. If you believe that you'll believe anything." Of course, the experience of reading her.....
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