The way Mom saw it, women should let menfolk do the work because it made them feel more manly. That notion only made sense if you had a strong man willing to step up and get things done, and between Dad's gimp, Buster's elaborate excuses, and Apache's tendency to disappear, it was often up to me to keep the place from falling apart. But even when everyone was pitching in, we never got out from under all the work. I loved that ranch, though sometimes it did seem that instead of us owning the place, the place owned us.
In Jeannette Walls' "Half Broke Horses," the protagonist reflects on her mother's belief that women should allow men to take on the labor to uphold their masculinity. This perspective is complicated by the reality of her family's situation, where the men often fail to fulfill their roles due to various reasons. Consequently, the responsibility for managing the ranch frequently falls on her shoulders, highlighting the gender dynamics and expectations within her...
