Significance of Parables

The theme of Religion—the Christian faith in particular—runs throughout this story. Not only because Catherine Grace's father is a preacher, but also because the main Christian tenets of grace and forgiveness lend a powerful end to the story. At two key places in the story, Catherine relates some of her father's favorite parables, stories that are told to illustrate a point. During his funeral, she likens the town to a week choking out a fruitful tomato vine with gossip and judgment. When she sits with her mother, she recalls the parable in the Bible of the lost sheep and the shepherd that will leave his entire flock to find the one sheep that has strayed away. The author is an apparent believer in these allegories, and for the novel's purposes they help to explain what Catherine is feeling without using her own words.