Peck spares nothing in his realistic picture of farm life. Some critics feel Peck is too violent and too pessimistic in his view of the imminence of death.

Others find the realism refreshing. He presents and accepts nature for what it is.

The mating scene between Pinky and boar is straightforward but not offensive. The brutal details of Pinky's death are not gratuitous; they help the reader understand Rob's reaction to his father.

Peck refers to sex in several instances but only in passing. Rob's four sisters have been "wedded and bedded," a colloquialism for "married." A married neighbor has had an affair that drives his girlfriend to drown their baby and hang herself. A widow woman and her hired man giggle in the dark. Rob does not pass judgment on these people but matter-of-factly accepts them, without giving their sexual lives any further thought.