The allegory of scandal
This novel is an examination of the nature of scandal, specifically a scandal that is only a breach of social niceties. The town does not feel that Rucker should marry someone so young than himself, nor so quickly after being bereaved of his wife. But is it illegal or something? Nature seems to give them approval because they fall in love. The allegory ends up showing that communities have a risk associated with their sense of culture; by over-enforcing cultural norms, the town does evil and ends up killing an innocent man.
Love Simpson as a symbol
Love Simpson has a name that is literally a few sounds different than "love symbol," and for Will and Rucker, that is exactly what she symbolizes. Rucker feels only eligible for her attention and company because of his assets and wealth, but over time, they do fall in love. Love's story is the complementary tale of a wife who is accepted as a servant only, but who grows to be in deep communion with a husband she loves and is loved by. Their love grows as they suffer together for the scandalous nature of their union.
Will's unique knowledge
Will is the only person who is qualified to make fair judgments because he shares community and familial ties to his own family. He proves this by trying to get hired at his grandfather's company; clearly, Will is relating to the man as both a personal figure and a community figure, but his intimate access to the patriarch shows him aspects of his grandfather's decisions that are instructive and also very private. Will learns not to judge based on appearances. This means that he alone understands when true love makes Love Simpson a real part of his family.
The mother's hatred
Will's point of view is equally insightful in the critical lens as well, because the person who held his first loyalty, his own mother, suggests to Will that there is some insult against the deceased grandmother. She is vehemently opposed to the relationship, but then again, Will notices that circumstantial happenstance might have a role to play in her emotions—the issue is consistently timing. The maternal disapproval leaves Will in the center of two mutually exclusive and opposite dynamics which he holds in tension.
Death and birth
As if to bring that symbolism of mutual opposites held in tension to full bloom, Rucker dies at the end of the novel, but with the promise of new life; he has also conceived new life—his younger wife is now pregnant. This ends the novel with balance, because the story is about human life in all its opinionated flavor and drama, framed by the certain promise of death; the matriarch dies first, and then at the end, the patriarch joins her in death. In light of that unfortunate certainty, the novelist asks the reader to re-examine any harsh cultural ideas they might be subconsciously enforcing.
