Analysis of Maile Meloy's "Ranch Girl"

Maile Meloy’s short story “Ranch Girl” is a story about a young girl that grows up on a ranch. The story is especially interesting because of the second person point of view that Meloy uses, forcing the reader into a strange frame of mind. The story has a very successful story arch as the protagonist grows and changes and learns about the world.

One of the ways Meloy succeeded greatly was in her use of details and little quips of advice and wisdom within the work. An example is in a conversation with Suzy, “ ‘Be interesting in your twenties,’ Suzy says. ‘Otherwise you'll want to do it in your thirties or forties, when it wreaks all kinds of havoc, and you've got a husband and kids.” Meloy added a simple dialogue that leaves the reader with something to think and laugh about. Another example of hidden wisdom is when Meloy speaks of Dale, “Dale stood around grinning, embarrassed, like a guy who'd beaten his friends at poker.” A formidable grasp of metaphor is powerful when used correctly.

Another way that Meloy creates a great story is with her little poetic details that tell a great deal of the story. Though there was a good amount of summary and telling in the story to set it up, Meloy made up for it with her use of detail, “At Andy's funeral, his uncle's band plays, and his family sets white doves free. One won't go, and it hops around the grass at your feet.” The addition of the detail about the dove that didn’t lift off was as import to the story as anything else. It told of the quality of the funeral, it set the mood for how little the people cared, and it made the already sad funeral scene even sadder.