Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

In Dead End in Norvelt, the community is tumultuous. The Norvelters don’t get along entirely, and neither do the members of Jack’s family. Conflict is an inherent aspect of community, and the tension is immediate, with Jack accidentally firing his father’s Japanese rifle. This causes Miss Volker to drop her hearing aid in the toilet. The forcefulness continues when Dad orders Jack to destroy Mom’s cornfield, and then Mom seizes Jack on the baseball field and drags him back home. Jack’s relationships with Bunny and Miss Volker also rely on force, with Bunny trying to push Jack out of his comfort zone and Miss Volker compelling Jack to drive her car (when he’s never driven before) and then all but break into Mrs. Dubicki’s home to see if she’s dead. Other Norvelters impose their will on the community. For example, Mr. Spizz confesses to murdering members of the community so that he can marry Miss Volker. Mr. Huffer accelerates the demise by buying Norvelt’s empty houses and moving them to another Roosevelt community in West Virginia. Through the characters’ actions, Gantos shows that the Norvelt community is made of individuals with divergent interests, which influences the occurrences and interactions of its residents in difficult ways.