“Ranch Girl”
By Maile Maloy

Living on a ranch sounds like a challenge itself. In “Ranch Girl" by Maile Maloy she uses second person point of view to show you how the individual reacts to the community expectation in the character personal lives. Ranch girl represents an ordinary, middle class, Texas girl who lives on a horse ranch. Throughout the short story, Maloy makes ranch girl seem defeated for every decisions she makes, however does she have a backup plan? The individual charter, ranch girl is faced with impacts of staying in the ranch community, following Andy and not choosing her educational opportunities. Although ranch girl makes her decisions based on the community values she faces the consequences for her individual decisions. Ranch girl fears change, she choose stayed with her dad in the ranch community. She feels obligated to help out around the ranch because of the less helping hands and the work load that has to get done. The father works late, comes home tired and then opens a beer. She continues to support him weather its being there with him, bring cheese and crackers, and watches him fall asleep. When ranch girl visits Carla, Haskell tries to have her stay for dinner, however she would rather not leave her dad alone. She would rather walk home hungry because she’s to embrace. What would happened if she wasn’t there to help her dad with the ranch or fixing him a bite to eat or leaving him by himself? Another indication that she fears change, “No one from school ever visits the ranch, so she kept her room the way she decorated it at ten: a pink comforter on the bed, horse poster on the walls, plastic horse models on the selves”. At sixteen, you’re closer to being an adult not a kid, so you would be many changes in our taste and decorating. Ranch girl knows that if her mom could leave the community and do well so can she! At a later time, she moves out with her mom in town and adapt to her new lifestyle. Our ranch girl follows love, it’s expected that, “Virginity is as important to rodeo boys as it is to Catholics, and she doesn’t go home and fuck Andy Tyler because, when she finally gets him, she wants to keep him”. She enjoys the attentions she get from Andy even though he’s with Lacey’s. Traditions have it, “But cowboys are romantics: when they settle down they want the girl they haven’t fucked”. She bases her decisions on that tradition, however Lacey doesn’t. It seems as if there is not too many options for picking a cowboys, naturally she falls in love with him because he seems macho, has a crazy streak for bull riding and tends to find himself in fights. She purposely plans on flunking schools just so she could end up at the same college with Andy Tyler. She spends most of her time around him during dances and all night graduation parties. She believes him when he says, “he doesn’t know a more beautiful girl”. She feels like she is the only girl that exist in his life and they’re going to be together when he picks someone. Even though ranch girl decides to follow Andy to college she states, “and if things don't work out with Andy she already know half the football team”. This is would definitely be her individual decision on finding another partner to settle down with. As much as she would follow him, she has consider the idea that this might not work in her favor. The opportunities are endless when we choose to further our education in school. No one sets out to life planning on failing. Here our character ranch girl purposely plans on flunking classes silently without anyone noticing. From a straight A to loads of D’s, so she can go to Western Montana College where anyone can go once they apply. It may not offer the best education but she’s okay with that. It’s doesn’t seem like she wants to seek personal growth but be comfortable with just an education and being with Andy Tyler. She is smart, she says, “Science teachers start bugging her in the halls. They tell her Eastern Schools have Montana quotas, place for ranch girls who are good at math. She could get a scholarship”. Logically we would run towards an opportunity like that, however she chooses differently during high school. Her opportunity could have started, from scholarship to an elite college outside the community, obtaining a degree, have more money to afford a home, buy a luxury car and have a better lifestyle. Perhaps she could meet her life partner, someone she could fall in love with, that’s also no trouble.

Works Cited

Meloy, Maile, “Ranch Girl” Reading Literature and Writing Argument. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2013. 173-177. Print