This story is seen by some critics as an indication of Cather's maturing views of the artist in society. Brown notes that in "The Sculptor's Funeral" (1905), Cather made clear her opinion that if an artist's friends and family failed or refused to understand him or her, the result was catastrophic to the artist, but by the time she published "The Diamond Mine" eleven years later, Cather had come to realize her mistake. Having watched artists of many kinds, she came to see that the artist was not as fragile as she had thought: genuine artistic talent survives even when powerful forces are arrayed against it. Thus, although Cather's "tone is ironical and melancholy, [it is] not in the least cynical," and the absence of cynicism may be the result of Cather's having outgrown her need to compare the artist's life with the nonartist's life.

Ryder would not...