Alice Munro's style of writing, like her subject matter, is fairly plain on the surface, yet contains many subtleties. "Walker Brothers Cowboy", like the bulk of her literature, occurs in rural Canada. In this particular story, the mundane nature of a depression era small town suggests, initially, an equally bland populace. From this initial assumption, however, the reader is ultimately shown that, far from being colorless, Ben Jordan may have quite an interesting past. Munro does not go far enough to allow the reader to speculate on the type of relationship Nora and Ben shared. Instead, the reader is left to experience the same sense of revelation as experienced by the daughter.