There is a great deal of suggested violence in Black Jack. The book's first scene occurs at a gallows where murderers and thieves are being hanged.

The novel's suspense hinges largely on threats of physical danger to Tolly and Belle, but the violence is not graphically presented. Although Garfield describes Black Jack's bruised, badly injured neck following his hanging, the actual hanging is implied rather than shown.

Black Jack enjoys killing people early in the novel, but he later sees the error of his ways.

The novel clearly affirms the worth of the individual and the necessity of evaluating each person individually rather than as a member of some category. The midgets are unsympathetic characters not because of their diminutive size but because they are "hard and unforgiving." Garfield criticizes Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Gorgandy not because they are women but because they are selfish and...