Previous
Rancher Croom
Mrs. Croom is the wife of Rancher Croom. They live alone on their Wyoming farm, which is very remote, and, after her husband’s death, Mrs. Croom discovers the bodies of other women he has been storing in the attic. Mrs. Croom is analogous to the heroine of “Bluebeard,” a folktale in which a young wife enters a forbidden room, finds the corpses of her husband’s victims, and is able to escape from and punish him when he attempts to kill her. However, in “55 Miles to the Gas Pump,” Mrs. Croom is less innocent and heroic. Proulx implies that she has been aware of her husband’s killings for some time (when she discovers the bodies her response is “just as she thought”), and, in not informing the police or making any effort to exact justice for his crimes, she has become complicit in them. Moreover, she seems to be fascinated by the bodies: her feelings about the corpses are described as “desire,” and her description of the bodies is not condemnatory, but fascinating and even provocative.
Mrs. Croom Quotes in 55 Miles to the Gas Pump
The 55 Miles to the Gas Pump quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Croom or refer to Mrs. Croom. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
55 Miles to the Gas Pump
Quotes
Mrs. Croom on the roof with a saw cutting a hole into the attic where she has not been for twelve years thanks to old Croom’s padlocks and warnings, whets to her desire …
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
… she can see inside: just as she thought: the corpses of Mr. Croom’s paramours – she recognizes them from their photographs in the paper: MISSING WOMAN …
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
…some desiccated as jerky and much the same color, some moldy from lying beneath roof leaks, and, all of them used hard, covered with tarry handprints, the marks of boot heels, some bright blue with remnants of paint used on the shutters years ago, one wrapped in newspaper nipple to knee.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire 55 Miles to the Gas Pump LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mrs. Croom Quotes in 55 Miles to the Gas Pump
The 55 Miles to the Gas Pump quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Croom or refer to Mrs. Croom. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
55 Miles to the Gas Pump
Quotes
Mrs. Croom on the roof with a saw cutting a hole into the attic where she has not been for twelve years thanks to old Croom’s padlocks and warnings, whets to her desire …
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
… she can see inside: just as she thought: the corpses of Mr. Croom’s paramours – she recognizes them from their photographs in the paper: MISSING WOMAN …
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
…some desiccated as jerky and much the same color, some moldy from lying beneath roof leaks, and, all of them used hard, covered with tarry handprints, the marks of boot heels, some bright blue with remnants of paint used on the shutters years ago, one wrapped in newspaper nipple to knee.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
