Rawlings uses the isolated setting of the orphanage to echo The Different Kinds of Isolation. The remote location, deep in nature, affords scenes of great beauty. Descriptions of blooming wildflowers and colorful sunsets evoke feelings of happiness and warmth, as in this quote: “He liked the late spring, he said. The rhododendron was in bloom, a carpet of color, across the mountainsides, soft as the May winds that stirred the hemlocks. He called it laurel” (241). Such passages illustrate why the narrator might find the solitude conducive to artistic creation. However, the mountain environment isn’t always so benign. In the winter, harsh snows and bitter winds cut off the inhabitants of the orphanage from the world—a bleak image that suggests loneliness.

Notably, the story takes place entirely in autumn: a season associated with change and, as it leads into winter, endings. This mirrors the fleeting and bittersweet quality of the narrator’s connection with Jerry, contributing to the story’s mood.

Syntax involves the organization of a sentence—i.e., the order of words and phrases. Rawlings combines complex and compound sentences of descriptive prose with the short, declarative sentences of the narrator’s conversations with