Beyond celebrating the Navajo ideal of hozojl the novel depicts a cultural conflict that takes a heavy toll on the Native Americans. La Farge offers little by way of a solution except the hope of returning to the reservation, as Slim Girl and Laughing Boy attempt to do, excluding white society entirely. Because their culture has not prepared them for the competitive and materialistic nature of the white world, the Navajo who attempt to live within white society suffer a degeneration of character through temptations such as alcohol. The Navajo who have little contact with the outside fare the best.

Slim Girl has never known reservation life, having been taken as a child to a white school. Laughing Boy, on the other hand, knows little about the society outside the reservation: he is a "blanket Indian," essentially content with his craftsmanship and his talent...