Both “The Walking Woman” by Mary Austin and “Deadwood Dick” by Nat Love explore themes of identity, but they offer contrasting views on how individuals shape themselves in the Western genre. In “The Walking Woman”, Austin uses characterization to show how the protagonist defies the society’s rules for women at that time. As the narrator notes, “no canon could it be considered ladylike to go about on your own feet, with a blanket and a black bag and almost no money in your purse, in and about the haunts of rude and solitary men.” (Austin 217) This scene highlights her rejection of the…