Young people often assume that the standard of living, values, and code of behavior that they have been exposed to represent the norm—especially if, like Josh, they have been brought up in a sheltered environment that allows little exposure to other ways of life. Josh travels only one hundred miles from his home but finds that he has entered a completely foreign world. Southall's novel is in many ways a study of cultural relativism, although the reader does not realize this right away because the narrative consists of Josh's immediate perceptions and judgments about people and events. For most of the novel, Josh has no concept of the socioeconomic factors that compel the people of Ryan Creek to behave as they do. Then he learns that Ryan Creek is a poor town that has been hit extremely hard by the Great Depression. Aunt Clara...