In “the Patented Gate and the Mean Hamburger,” Robert Penn Warren’s two main characters, Mr. Jeff York and his wife, portray the stereotype of a Midwestern, MidAmerican, less than affluent farmer and his wife during the 1930’s. However, both Mr. and Mrs. York have characteristics that deviate from their main stereotypes. Standing on the corner, York has a gaunt, cadaverous visage. He has a tired look on his face that, in one way or another, parallels to his washed out, tired, blue jean overalls. One could easily come to understand that he has worked hard his whole life, and despite his appearance, his pale, blue-grey eyes reveal life and love for his wife and children. Every Saturday he takes his family out to town, where he waits on the corner with the other town’s men like his fathers and grandfathers did. Mrs. York reflects her husband’s appearance with her own chaste look. She keeps her head down and shows very little signs of liberation or poise. Her dresses are weathered as well, and she owns one coat for the winter. She is a devoted wife and mother. Always behind her are her three children who are all back to back in age, and although Mr. York is somewhere in his fifties, Mrs. York is twenty years his junior. Despite the York’s conforming to the basic 1930’s stereotypes, each has a few aspects that distinguish them from the others. Mr. York owns his own place- a white house with a white patented gate; many farmers of that time rented from their