Setting

"The Half-Skinned Steer" takes place in Wyoming, a setting that is crucial to the story's plot. Mero spends his life running away from his past, which he associates with Wyoming and the hardness of ranching life. However, Mero's physical journey from Massachusetts to Wyoming also prompts him to remember his past. As he gets closer to Wyoming and the ranch where he grew up, the setting affects him. He tries to beat the harsh weather and his lack of luck, using the calmness and confidence that he has built up during his sixty years away from Wyoming. However, he is unable to do so and dies in the process. As he is dying, the story about Tin Head and the half-skinned steer, told by his father's girlfriend, comes back to haunt him; he sees some cattle and hallucinates about one steer in particular: "It tossed its head, and...