“Privately, he thought of the fire as a sign from God to keep this gift tightly to him. Privately, because he did not want to be thought of as a man who made up excuses for a tragedy…”

Tommy’s faith is an important symbol in the first chapter/story. Although Tommy would rather keep it to himself, his faith in God protects his positive outlook on life despite traumatic events such as losing his family farm to a fire. This symbolizes Tommy’s fortitude and extends to the resilience of rural communities. Notably, Tommy calls his sign from God a “gift,” implying that his possession of this knowledge is something he can’t let go of, which foreshadows his inner conflict when Peter blames the fire on his father.

“‘I just like to check on you every so often,’ Tommy said. ‘You know, neighbor to neighbor. You live here all alone. Seems to me a neighbor should check in once in a while.’”

Tommy’s neighborly kindness indicates both his character and his community. He represents the agrarian symbol of a helpful neighbor in a community in which the unpredictability of rural life requires tight-knit relationships with the people around you. Tommy’s kindness extends to Pete, whom many other townspeople dismiss. Tommy is unconditionally kind to Pete, which highlights Tommy’s character as pure good, as pure as his belief in God.

“And so there’s a struggle, or a contest, I guess you could say, all the time, it seems to me. And remorse, well, to be able to show remorse—to be able to be sorry about what we’ve done that’s hurt other people—that keeps us human.” 

Tommy’s reflection that what keeps us human is our ability to feel sorry for the hurt we’ve done to others reflects his community spirit and his religious faith. In both successful communities and the Judeo-Christian faith, individuals are encouraged to take account of their flaws and be aware of their mistakes so that the entire community can grow and be better.