Challenging Gender Norms in “The Gift of Cochise” and “The Walking Woman”

Both Dorothy M. Johnson’s “The Walking Woman״ and Lois L’Amour’s “The gift of Cochise” revolve around women resisting gender norms but differ in their degrees of defiance. In “The Walking Woman “ Angie’s husband dies while on a supply run leaving Angie to care for their children and homestead. This care requires her to fight Apache raiders forcing her to challenge gender norms through displays of resilience and independence throughout their conflict. This can be seen when the narrator says, “Three times the warriors of Cochise had attacked this solitary cabin and three times they had been…