The issues of multiculturalism—the clash of different cultures, the possibility of discovering commonly held beliefs with those of another background, the difficulty of learning to value a set of beliefs not like our own—emerge naturally out of the story. He reveals his own reverence for the land, nature, and freedom as he sketches Cloyd's feelings.

Walter, although white, does not patronize or scorn Cloyd's traditions.

Indeed, he understands Cloyd to be operating out of normal, adolescent confusion as well as from a base of cultural ideals. Walter's acceptance of Cloyd and Cloyd's acceptance of Walter model a tolerant and respectful view of difference, whether that difference stems from race, age, or class distinctions.

Some readers or critics might frown at Cloyd's rebellious, even destructive, behavior. He does, at one point, use a chain saw on Walter's wife's grove of peach trees, destroying...