“Rock Springs” is a story that roughly follows a “family” on their journey to Florida. However, Ford manages to change almost every aspect of this simple summary. This story is full of lies and fabrications, parenting, decision making, and probably any other number of things. This story is really about Earl, a criminal father trying to do what is best for himself while pulling along his young daughter Cheryl and his girlfriend Edna.
There is a certain lack of love that Ford was able to instill within this story. Sure, one can say Earl must love his daughter if he took her with him, or that he loves Edna enough to know what is best for her, but neither of which are the case. Ford was able to develop Earl into a “manipulative” character.
He showed several different sides depending on his situations, but the reader does not know what he is actually thinking until he monologues to himself. Cheryl and her dog Little Duke are side characters but still hold a large place within the story. I believe Ford created them specifically to show, for one, how human Earl is. That he had a family, a wife and kid, but now is messing up Cheryl’s life just like he did to his own. Cheryl and Little Duke also give off a nagging emotion in the scenes they are involved in. Earl HAS to bring them with him, even if he did not want to or even if he was annoyed by having to take care of them himself, he still had to bring them, and Cheryl and Duke remind him of this every time he sees them or thinks about them.
It is extremely interesting to watch the story unfold while reading through it. Ford created a dynamic world within 27 pages full of everything that a story should have, most importantly a purpose. The purpose of “Rock Springs” could be anything really, but to me I see it as a story from the other side of the pristine and clean.