This is an expository essay on the short story "Wyoming: The Solace of Open Spaces," by Gretel Erlich. The essay is about how people in Wyoming are like compared to people who live in the city.

Wyoming, not just a barren state, but the home of a community "The solitude in which westerners live makes them quiet" (Erlich 209), but this does not mean they hide from human contact, for example, the people of Wyoming. There people, in one way or another, keep in contact with each other and they keep in touch with reality. In the short story, "Wyoming: The Solace of Open Spaces," Gretel Erlich writes about the tight community …

…from other people, they try their hardest to make friends and keep the friends they have. Most importantly, they don't dwell on insignificant factors such as superficial or artificial things. They may live an extremely boring life, but they don't care. It's their life and they'll live it the way it is because they are happy with the way things are, making new friends and having a close relationship with the people in their community.