Irons+in+the+Fire+JM

Jessica Marr Reflection on //Irons in the Fire//

This article was very interesting to read I found it almost like reading a story or a novel. This is something I would never have thought to see in a magazine. I’m still trying to figure out how the title “Irons in the Fire” relate to the story, as it has nothing to do with irons, but anyways there is a really engaging story behind it, at times I was confused, at times I didn’t understand but overall I got the big picture.

So, he’s having lunch with a buddy, his friend sees a white van, that looks like a sheriff of police van, instead it is the Nevada Brand Inspector. After noticing the van John McPhee( I assume it is John talking here as he says “I”) says goodbye to his friend and leaves for Nevada. Apparently the Nevada Inspector is known to his friend’s family and John goes on describing the Nevada Livestock Brand Book, which is lovated beside the drivers seat inside the van. He describes the book and the significance to what is going on his article up to this point. He mentions the symbols and letters that are placed inside the book and describe what the meanings of them are. Underneath the paragraph describing these symbols and letters are illustrations of what these look like and what they symbolize. McPhee goes on to describe in detail, The Brand Inspector and also gives us (the reader) his name. I am just trying to figure out how the description of the inspector would be of any significance to the scenario.

After reading through the first bit of the article I now know that a brand inspector inspects brands of cattle, as in the next section of the article he is talking about cattle and that they move to the east, closer to Colarado. Then he goes into the significance of the letters and what they mean. He says “ Or I may be studying the shoulder when the brand is on the hip”. A couple of sentences later he states “ I could not tell a Lazy S from a rolling M if my life depended on it, or a Running F from a Lazy Walking A”. I am starting to think that the types of letters are “symbols” or brands to represent the different types of cattle. Again, there is an illustration of these letters.

So I’m a bit confused on what to think about here, first he describes the brands and the letters that represent them (the cattle) and then he describes the scenery, the mountains and what not. McPhee, explains that Chris, the brand inspector, introduces him to another guy, Gordon Eldbridge who is a rancher. He talks about his ranch, cattle and physical characteristics.

There is a description of where they are and what they are doing (branding these cattle). I feel it is interesting that there is a poem stuck in the middle of this section of the article. There are also illustrations stuck in the middle of these sections of the article. Both the poem and illustrations are unrelated to the topic of the article. My question is, for what reason are these poems and illustrations doing amongst the article if they are unrelated and have nothing to do with the subject matter.

I have come to realization that this article by McPhee is an actual story about cattle ranchers and branding cattle. In this case, he’s telling the story of Chris and his family and his ranch of cattle. McPhee describes many aspects to him, including his family, his house, his vehicles and the scenery of nature surrounding him.

As I am getting into reading the article, I find it a very interesting article and enjoyable to read. It’s like reading a story. Not like a news story, more like an excerpt from a novel type story.

I find it interesting, as a reader that not only do we as readers find out about the cattle industry, but we also know about Chris’ background and education. I am also learning and getting to know about cattle ranchers and cattle branding. In McPhee’s article, he explains and describes the steps taken by Chris to brand cattle. We also ( as readers) get to know about the cattle who are being branded as they are described in great detail. Not too much detail in that it’s too over the top, but just enough detail, so that the reader has an idea what they are reading about.

Now, half way through the article, McPhee changes the story and instead of telling the story about Chris and his cattle ranch, he is telling a story about Will James and his conviction of cattle rustling. He explains the job of Shirley, another brand inspector and what she has to do to catch a cattle rustler. A cattle rustler is basically someone who steals cattle.

In McPhee’s article he also described how the rustlers took cattle and their schemes and plans to do it. It was like reading a suspense novel. I wanted to know what was going to happen next and what they were going to do with the cattle, and etc.

Another twist to this story is that now the article is talking about a man named Norman sharp and his cattle ranch. Two men came to his ranch wanting to trade horses for calves. They were ropers and wanted the calves for roping practice. McPhee then goes on to describe Norman and his demeanor in how he deals with things such as this. Descriptions of the two ropers, Wayne Lee and Leo Stewart are also given and taken into consideration. They were both very suspicious cattle ranchers who had both rustled a lot of cattle.

Norman Sharp, gets in contact with an Investigator agent Steve Nevin to find out more about these rustlers. They (Steve and Norman) venture out to Las Vegas where they believe they (Wayne and Stewart) have taken the cattle. They get the cattle and there are very detailed descriptions on the way the cattle were placed in the trailers and in what order.

Cattle are now auctioned off by satellite. The article switches back to Chris and talks about Chris and his comments on the cattle and auction. The remaining cattle are sent back to the ranchers looking in search for their calves.

Overall this article was very different, it was engaging and interesting to read. It was nothing like I ever read before but good and gives me a sense of different types of writing by McPhee and the various topics he likes to write about.

.