Recovering latent parts of a story: The Buck

In the short story entitled "The Buck" written by Joyce Carol Oates, we are introduced to two quite interesting characters, namely Melanie Snyder and Wayne "Woody" Kunz. These two characters both struggle with different aspects of their personal lives; in Wayne Kunz's case, he is in constant battle with his manhood, whereas Melanie Snyder has somewhat renounced her femininity. Her very appearance when we first see her in the story is quite strange, because she is seen dressed in her brothers' clothes which mask her feminine side. Both of these characters in this story are representative of…