What are the motifs in Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx?

Family is a recurring idea in the story. Many of the characters in these stories have strong family connections. In The Half-Skinner Steer the main character is driving cross country to attend his brother's funeral. This drive leads to disaster, but this man is still determined to pay his final respects to his brother. In The Mud Below, Diamond fights to find his own identity when he learns the man he thought was his father is not. Job History is the story of one man's life, but it is also the story about the family that one man fights to provide for.