But in the Fall I'm Leaving can serve as a springboard for students to discuss how they perceive good living and good deeds. There are, though, some potential hazards which might arise during a discussion of Rinaldi's text.

Kevin's unfailing self-sacrifice is not often seen—at least by the narrator—in the most altruistic of lights. Kevin himself admits that his desire to immerse himself in poverty, when he does have money and can oversee a suburban parish, stems from his response to his grandmother's past. And Brieanna has a clear distaste for Kevin's impoverished home. In this sense, point of view is primarily upper-middle class: There is an element of snobbishness in the work.

While But in the Fall I'm Leaving does tend to represent a predominantly white middle- and upper-middle-class point of view, there is value in its presentation. The majority of...