55 Miles to the Gas Pump

“[H]is own strange beer, yeasty, cloudy, bursting out in garlands of foam […]”

The long sentence comprising the first paragraph moves from Croom’s physical appearance to his actions. The detail of the home-brewed beer in his cellar shooting out of the bottles “in garlands of foam” serves as a metaphor for Croom’s volatile, explosive personality. It also affirms him as a habitual drinker, calling his judgment into question.

“Rancher Croom at night galloping drunk over the dark plain […]”

This phrase builds upon the previous detail about the beer’s bursting “garlands of foam.” Croom unleashes his pent-up energy in impetuous, fast-paced actions. The “dark plain” contributes to the story’s gothic setting by evoking the remoteness of the Croom ranch and hinting at The Dangerous Effects of Isolation, thus foreshadowing the dark deeds Mrs. Croom discovers in the attic.

“[S]teps out, parting the air with his last roar […]”

Croom unleashes a roar as he steps over the cliff, in keeping with the vital physicality of his characterization so far. Even his roar is forceful and (in retrospect) violent, cleaving the air like a knife. It is also ambiguous: It could represent anger, defiance, remorse, or anguish.

“[B]ut before he hits he rises again to the top of the cliff like a cork in a bucket of milk.”

The narrative voice describes Croom’s suicide in mystical, even poetic language and imagery. The description of him rising through the air defies expectations, reinforcing the characterization of Croom as possessing a fierce and indomitable spirit; it suggests everything from bungee jumping to an ascension into heaven. After the second paragraph’s revelation of Croom’s serial murder of women, his triumphant death becomes all the more ironic. While Croom inflicted a horrific death upon his victims, his own death seems carefree and buoyant. The story decouples Death and Mortality from any sense of justice.

“Mrs. Croom on the roof with a saw cutting a hole into the attic […]”

The second paragraph’s opening words introduce Mrs. Croom in parallel to her husband, using the same blend of prepositional phrases and gerunds. The image of her on the roof with a saw denotes a strong, determined woman who will satisfy her curiosity at all costs. More so than the first paragraph, the second employs free indirect discourse, depicting Mrs. Croom’s mind and thought process.

“Croom’s padlocks and warnings, whets to her desire […]”

Croom keeps the door to the attic under lock and key for 12 years, warning his wife away with threats and indicating the power and control he wields in the marriage. His “padlocks and warnings” seem to arouse not only his wife’s curiosity but her sexual interest, as the narrator describes her response to his warnings as “desire.” The word serves the twofold purpose of lending insight into Mrs. Croom’s possible depravity and suggesting the sexual nature of Rancher Croom’s crimes.

“[J]ust as she thought: the corpses of Mr. Croom’s paramours […]

As Mrs. Croom peels away a slab of the roof, she peers in, sees the bodies, and at last learns why her husband padlocked the attic door. Rather than feel pity or horror at her grim discovery, however, Mrs. Croom feels vindicated because the bodies confirm suspicions she had all along. That she considers the murder victims Croom’s “paramours” demonstrates the extent to which she has internalized her husband’s, and society’s, misogyny—the result of living in a patriarchal world that pits women against each other as competitors, and an example of The Violence of Rigid Gender Norms.

“[S]ome desiccated as jerky and much the same color […]”

This simile describes the bodies in the attic from Mrs. Croom’s perspective. The phrase illustrates the length of time some of the victims have been stashed away. That they are “desiccated as jerky,” a preserved food often relied upon during lean times due to its long shelf life, builds a dual metaphor of Mrs. Croom as a prudent housekeeper and Croom as a devourer, murdering his victims to satiate his unholy appetite.

“[S]ome moldy from lying beneath roof leaks […]”

This description of the bodies in the attic immediately follows the simile of bodies “desiccated as jerky.” The state of the bodies runs the gamut from dried and desiccated to wet and moldy. The two descriptions differentiate the women in death, suggesting their individuality in life.

“[A]ll of them used hard, covered with tarry handprints, the marks of boot heels […]”

This description unites the women in their common experience of victimization and murder at the hands of Rancher Croom. The handprints and boot marks indicate Croom’s violence towards the women as he murdered them, perhaps amending the earlier description of him as “warm-handed” in a less positive direction.

“[S]ome bright blue with remnants of paint used on the shutters years ago […]”

This description of the bodies in the attic alludes to the legend of Bluebeard in its reference to bright blue paint. In the Bluebeard story, a husband keeps a room in his home under lock and key and forbids his wife to go near it. One day, when he is away, she opens the door and find the bodies of his murdered former wives. Proulx’s reworking of the Bluebeard story casts the wife’s curiosity in a less innocent light, suggesting that she suspected her husband’s crimes. The paint’s association with the shutters—a domestic detail—underscores her complicity.

“[O]ne wrapped in newspaper nipple to knee.”

The final detail regarding Mrs. Croom’s discovery of the bodies, this description contributes to the story’s irony, suggesting the woman may be wrapped in the same newspaper carrying the story of her disappearance. Their nakedness also suggests that Croom sexually assaulted his victims before murdering them—or perhaps afterward. The reference to newspaper also indicates the Crooms might not have been as isolated as it first appears. Via the newspaper, they had some connection to society, but they nevertheless flagrantly defied social norms.