“What was Sam afraid of? Withering away here. Dreaming of chances she’d never be able to take, and shriveling up from that denial, getting poorer and put under more pressure and pushed even farther away from the rest of the world. Compared to those fears, getting mauled by a bear seemed a delight.”

Sam’s thoughts are somewhat ironic given that her encounters with the bear grow more dangerous as the novel unfolds. The likelihood of remaining stuck in poverty without opportunities for betterment is a much more realistic scenario to Sam than standing up to a predatory wild animal. Her desire to leave the island indicates her motivation to improve her life status, illuminating The Power of Goals and Dreams as a theme.

“Did they know, then, how little their family had, and how precarious their grip on that little bit was? They had no idea. Each evening, their mother came home from the salon exhausted. Stinking of solvents. Sometimes she would cough. But the girls didn’t know yet—none of them knew—that the chemicals she inhaled were growing granulomas in her lungs, causing lymph nodes to swell, narrowing her arteries.”

Sam recalls the family’s life before her mother became ill with a life-threatening condition. Though their lives weren’t easy then because of the stresses associated with living in an economically disadvantaged condition, Sam considers that time as happier and freer. This partly stems from the burden of additional responsibilities associated with caring for her mother and the resulting expenses, but it also signifies the carefree life of childhood. The fact that their mother’s job as a nail technician exposed her to chemicals that led to her illness, however, underscores her sacrifices that she made for her family and the hidden injustices of some blue-collar jobs.