Clinging to the Past

One of the main themes of the story is the desire to have things remain the same. The people of Ruby, especially the older people, can tell verbatim the story of their ancestors' quest to found the town of Haven. The story is told and retold so much that when an outsider arrives - Richard Misner - he wonders about the fact that the people seem to cling to the minute details of that story but never tell the story of their own efforts to found a town of their own. An important example of this is seen when the men of Haven pack up the oven and move it - including every brick - to the new location. This occurs despite the fact that there is limited space for moving. When they arrive in Ruby, they put the oven back together and create a...