The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 5 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories.

The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 5 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories.
This section contains 341 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories Short Guide

The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories Summary & Study Guide Description

The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories 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 Literary Precedents on The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories by Owen Wister.

Preview of The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories Summary:

"The Jimmy-John Boss" concerns a young man's rite of passage into manhood. Dean Drake, a slender youth of nineteen, is hired as a foreman to supervise an unruly band of cowhands at a remote cattle camp in the mountains.

His first challenge as foreman is to enforce a rule of temperance in the camp by forbidding liquor, stored in "demijohn" containers. The men obey his rule until Christmas festivities weaken their restraint. A drunken brawl ensues, and the outnumbered neophyte barely escapes with his life.

He returns, however, when the rebellion is over and shames the recalcitrant cowboys into submission. As a symbolic gesture of authority, he blasts the demon demijohn to pieces and forever gains the cowboys' loyalty.

"Hank's Woman" explores the sordid side of human nature, an innate brutality perhaps brought forth, as Wister explains, by a harsh and barren land: "I [began] to conclude, after...

This section contains 341 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories Short Guide
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The Jimmy-John Boss and Other Stories from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.