Man vs. Nature Theme Analysis

“The Half-Skinned Steer” contains various moments that illustrate nature’s hostile relationship with human beings. The story is framed around an ominous fairytale about a man named Tin Head, whose family is cursed as a result of his disrespectful treatment of nature. Tin Head’s story parallels the history of the Corn family, which owns a ranch plagued by misfortune. The Corns’ lack of respect for and misunderstanding of nature results in the family’s ongoing bad luck; they are fated to suffer economic hardship, emotional strife, and even death. Proulx’s story, which ends with Mero likely dying in a snowstorm, presents nature as a merciless and indifferent force against which humanity is inevitably powerless.

Mero’s father’s girlfriend introduces the story of Tin Head, which illustrates a perpetual conflict between man and nature. On Tin Head’s ranch, nature acts cruelly and atypically, resulting in Tin Head’s unnaturally bad luck: his chickens change “color overnight,” and his cows’ calves are often born with three legs. Tin Head’s ranch, which is unduly affected by nature, has been singled out for bizarre misfortunes. Despite this contentious relationship between Tin Head and nature, however, Tin Head’s family relies on the resources provided by his steers, which he butchers for food. One year, however, Tin Head forgets to honor the gravity of the steer’s sacrifice; instead, he acts disrespectfully, and begins skinning a steer only to finish the job “halfway.” Rather than completing the work, he “leaves the steer half-skinned,” a clear sign of contempt for nature.

Tin Head’s decision to leave the steer’s slaughter unfinished dooms his family. When he goes back outside, he sees the half-skinned steer’s “red eyes” looking at him with “pure teetotal hate.” He realizes that “he is done for” and that his entire family is now fated to suffer; his disrespect for nature has started a cycle of revenge. He acknowledges that even his house will have to “blow away or burn up,” as nature is merciless and vengeful. The tale of Tin Head’s family acts as context for Mero’s story, and illustrates how the natural world is fated to clash with humans.

The Corn family’s ranch, like Tin Head’s ranch, is plagued by bad luck. It is “impossible to run cows” on the “tough” land, and the cows tend to fall “off cliffs” or “into sinkholes.” Even the conditions for growing the basic materials for ranching are unfriendly: hay cannot thrive, though less useful varieties of plants grow in abundance. The ranch’s land seems unwilling to sustain any of the Corn family’s members. This bad luck is exacerbated by the Corn family’s inability to understand or work peacefully with nature. Instead of adapting to the ranch’s natural resources, the family decides to exchange their cattle for emusan animal nonnative to Wyoming. They thereby turn the ranch into a tourist destination, with imported animals that do not belong in the ranch’s habitat. This choice illustrates the Corn family’s disregard for nature: they are unwilling to acclimate, and instead choose to introduce new and unnatural elements. Mero’s brother Rollo is later killed by one of the imported emus, which attack him unexpectedly. Rollo’s death is directly caused by the Corn family’s doomed relationship with nature: the family provoked nature by introducing non-native species to their ranch, and one of the animals lashes out at—and eventually kills—Rollo.

The hostile relationship between nature and the Corn family also impacts Mero’s life, despite his attempts to escape his fate. Throughout his life, Mero has deliberately separated himself from the natural world of the ranch. He left home to work in more industrial jobs and became a vegetarian, which he considers the choice of “a cattleman gone wrong.” Furthermore, he admits to knowing about nature solely through the “programs on television,” a clear divergence from his family members, who learn about nature through ranching. Mero believes these choices in his youth, which kept him from being a proper “cattleman,” allow him to be ignorant of nature and the natural world. Eventually, however, Mero’s return to the ranch places him back into a hostile relationship with the natural world. When he drives to the ranch for his brother’s funeral, he is caught in a snowstorm. Mero describes how the wind seems to fight him, and how the snow continues to fall in spite of his distress; he begins to realize that the “thread” of his life is about to end. Despite his greatest efforts to escape nature’s curse, Mero once again becomes subject to the cruelty of the natural world.

Mero begins to walk towards the ranch, buffeted by the snowstorm. He describes how he sees an animal appear next to him, and he suddenly realizes it is the “half-skinned steer,” the omen from Tin Head’s fairytale, which has been “watching for him” his entire life. This steer illustrates nature’s inexorable power. Despite believing he has escaped the natural world’s mistreatment of his family, Mero recognizes, in the moments before his death, that he has not escaped fate. Ultimately, he cannot break nature’s curse; it has been waiting for him to return.

In Proulx’s “The Half-Skinned Steer,” nature has an antagonistic relationship with humanity. Compounding this tense dynamic, many of Proulx’s characters continually disrespect nature as they struggle to survive; as a result, nature places a curse on them for their contempt. Individuals are thus fated or doomed to suffer when they mistreat nature, and cannot hide from nature’s ability to enact revenge.