"Job History"

The short story "Job History" by Annie Proulx has a pretty cool structure. The story is told in an informative way that comes off as pretty straightforward, while remaining unhappy at the same time. By telling the story like a series of facts, Proulx shows very honestly what has happened to the characters without any type of sugar-coating. The thing I enjoyed about the structure was that Proulx included many small details from different moments in the life of Leeland and his family. These moments in the story can seem unimportant until one realizes that these small moments and memories are what lifetimes are made of, that even the most momentary and mundane things stick with people and shape who they are.

The metaphor in the story that stood out the most to me was the taxidermy business. I viewed the taxidermists as showing why small town America may never really thrive. For instance, the taxidermists pose animals in uncommon positions, like the coyote posed to urinate on a trap. By doing this, the Californians show that they do not exactly hold the same view of the world as the people in Wyoming, and the people in town like to make jokes about the coyote, or the views of the different people. After struggling in Unique, the taxidermists leave the little town in their dust, showing that in small towns where people are set in their ways, differences are not always accepted, and things never really change.