Perkins is a professor of American and English literature and film. In this essay, she examines the theme of desire and denial in the story.

In an assessment of Annie Proulx's collection Close Range, a reviewer for Publishers Weekly notes “the mean, brutal pain-filled world” of her characters, “who need courage to sustain—much less find—a little dignity in the misery, futility and dread of daily existence on land plagued by drought and flood, sleet and scorching sun.” “Brokeback Mountain,” the most celebrated story in this collection, presents characters who suffer the bitter winds of Wyoming while they herd sheep in mountain pastures. Yet, in this tale, the land is not as harsh as the people on it, especially the violently intolerant ones who refuse to allow two men to openly love each other. This is the brutal world that Ennis Del Mar must find the...