I really thought this story was interesting. I have read it before, so I was ready to dive into it again. With this story I really feel that the author is trying to give a realistic view with a twist.
The harshness of ranch life is being reveiled. I really think that a lot of times that the lives of ranchers and farmers are fantasized and romantasized especially during the depression. And then there's the twist. One of the things that bugged me and intriged me the most about this story is the skinning of the steer. First, a lot of people in my other class said that this part was so gruesome, but in reality its what happens when someone butchers. It's real life, it's what goes on at a ranch, especially during that time, everyone butchered their own animals, they didn't go to the grocery store to pick up some meat. One of the other things that bugs the heck out of me is the fact that when I did some research about the author, I found out that she doesn't really like to do research herself. If she would have actually gone out of her way and actually researched she would have found out that what she wrote about the butchering and skinning was incorrect, at least in my eyes. After talking to my Grandparents who were raised on farms told me that butchering was actually a social thing. Nobody ever worked by themselves, and the whole "event" took the whole day to do. Nobody ever left the animal, and someone was always there taking care of things, like tending the fire and such. They would have never left it half-skinned and then walked away. The other thing is, even though this may be gruesome, but once you stick an animal, it's dead, there is no possible way that it is going to get up and start walking around.
One of the other things that makes me wonder in this story is the ending. It comes off as kind of being unclear, at least to me anyway. I really honestly believe that the old man didn't make it. The story speaks of the fact that its so cold out side. He's miles from his destination, and it's probably not really that safe to walk that distince in below freezing temperatures in his condition. Also, the car won't run, because it's stuck and there really isn't much that he can do. I really think that he died at the end. When the author speaks of him and the cow I kind of wonder if they are supposed to be ghosts at the end.