The Yares of Black Mountain

In The Yares of Black Mountain, there is discussion of the war, comparisons between the North and South and other symbolic references mentioned in the text. This is one of the harder texts I think I have read thus far in this class. The Yares of Black Mountain is similar to Uncle Tom's Cabin in the way that the mom is driven by the child. Charley, the baby, is sick and really small and all he has is his mother guiding him to health and safety. His mother is a widow and all of her motivation comes from him. "The puny little boy in her arms was the only real thing in life to her." (247) We discussed in class that the reason people were being so nice to the travelers was because she had a baby. When Denby, the mother, finally reached the Yares it was as if she instantly felt comfortable with them. "She had an odd feeling that she had been adopted by some ancient knight." (258) The Yares were free of all materialism who had no position on clothing or educationing. Denby found herself not thinking or caring about how poor they were and started thinking of them as just anyone else. She soon formed a relationship with them and her baby was able to be cured. Has materialism taken over so much in our world that some people forget who they are? Does it cause them to forget what their main purpose in the world is?