Final answer:
Jerry Wood as a trickster influences the narrative and engages the audience. The landscape in Riders of the Purple Sage acts as a vital character influencing the plot, while traditional gender roles present in the story shape the readers' understanding of the outcome.
Step-by-step explanation:
The character Jerry Wood plays the role of a trickster in his narrative, which is a critical rhetorical device that impacts the reading audience. The use of a trickster character often adds humor, questions traditional values, and can create complex situations that engage the audience in a deeper way. Through cleverness and deceit, tricksters typically upset the normal hierarchy and balance, forcing characters and readers alike to see the world in a new light.
In Riders of the Purple Sage, the landscape itself becomes a character that is so vivid and imposing that it often transcends the human characters and influences the plot. The landscape's imposing nature shapes the characters' experiences and their fates, much like an actual character would, by providing challenges and shaping the atmosphere of the story.
The roles of men and women in Riders of the Purple Sage are rooted in the traditional gender roles of the time period, with men often depicted as rugged and dominant, and women as nurturing and subordinate. However, these roles are explored and sometimes challenged throughout the narrative. The reactions of the characters to these gender roles help to shape our understanding of the outcome, as they must either conform to or rebel against societal expectations.