Wes (Frank’s brother, a county sheriff) abuses his powers, as a sheriff to incarcerate Frank in his home basement. Wes chooses to protect his family reputation before the law. He does not fulfil his role of duty as a sheriff by discriminating against the Indian community. Julian (David’s grandfather) was very unhappy that Wes would lock up his own brother despite the fact that Wes saves Frank from the humiliation of going to jail. David faces an even more intimidating threat when he notices that a few of the hired hands from his grandfather’s ranch come to his house to try and break Frank free. He comments, “These men must have figured, with Grandpa’s help, that Frank was in the basement, and that rear door was the way they were going in after him” (pg-1).

Through dreadful experiences, David feels an emerging sense of adulthood because he realises how he must act and the gravity of the situation in which he and his family are involved. He is far from the child who once looked forward to visits from his uncle and visits to his grandfather’s ranch. As an adult, he is concerned with the welfare of his family and his parents’ well being, emotionally. David exemplifies this and stands by his family when they are in need. He does not desert them or feel shameful. He stays loyal and true to those he cares for and loves. Thus, he has shown his ability to act as an adult would.

A loss of David’s innocence also appears during his killing of a live magpie. This brings about a an evil in himself also reinforcing the fact that he has killed a living creature in the wild and mentioning that “I needed that, I thought, I hadn’t even known it but I had to kill something”(pg-81). The particular significance