April 04, 2005

Unfinished Skinnin

Jerz: Am Lit II (EL 267): Proulx, ''The Half-Skinned Steer''

Holy Moly!!!! I was so far lost in this story. I can not follow when an author jumps back and forth from one story to another. The very begining was most confusing for me. Was this half skinned steer really an escape artist or was this all in his imagination? Did he really get lost trying to find this ranch that he claimed he had remembered so well? Just a little side note who did not see him locking the keys in the car, I mean come on he is in the middle of nowhere yet he has to lock the doors

Posted by HollyWaite at April 4, 2005 10:27 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Holly,

Yeah, this is a story that will lose a reader for sure. Do you suppose the author intended it to be so? And what do you make of the intersecting stories? What is the point of the whole story anyway?

Posted by: John Haddad at April 5, 2005 03:03 AM

I could not stop thinking about this story and in what way was it suppose to make sense. This is just a premature thought but I think that maybe he was signifying with the steer that although he thought that his life had moved away from the farm his memories did not. He could remember the smallest detail of what the farm and its surroundings looked like. I think that the steer remained there in the area just as the memories that he made their remained.

Posted by: Holly at April 6, 2005 10:12 PM

Holly,

Great insight! The half-skinned steer, and half-a-man character of Mero play off of each other in a beautifully crafted way. Mero is unsatisfied and incomplete just as the steer was only half skinned yet still alive. See you in class!

Posted by: John Haddad at April 7, 2005 01:08 PM

I had trouble with this one too. It jumped around way too much to really follow along with it and i don't think i could handle even looking at it again to try to understand it. All i can make out of the half-skinned steer is that it is pretty freaky.

Posted by: scott clark at April 7, 2005 04:50 PM
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