Hudson's theme of death, a major motif of the autobiography, may at times trouble readers because the descriptions include violence, especially in the deaths of animals. Occasionally, the book describes deliberate cruelty among the gauchos. On the other hand, while the narrator is compelled to come to terms with the thought of his own death, he has little fear of it.

This tragic possibility leads to the introduction of the author's religious views, absent from most of the autobiography. It is clear that in the end Hudson is skeptical about immortality, but the expression of his skepticism is guarded.

He reports the religious attitudes of several other characters—his mother, who has strong faith; an old gaucho who has none; and his two brothers, one on either side. In brief passages, the book deals frankly with the theory of evolution's effects on nineteenth-century thought.

A...