“We [the Amish] look alike. We pray alike. We live alike. ...But none of these things mean we all think alike.”
At first glance, you can understand that the Amish are religious people, who cannot be distinguished from each other. It is obvious that they have practically the same things – perception of life, religion, faith, houses, traditions, clothes, etc. This list can be continued infinitely. However, the only thing that makes the Amish different is their thoughts. Someone like Aaron Fisher thinks to be loyal to the church throughout the whole life. Someone like Sarah Fisher thinks about family and children. Someone like Katie Fisher thinks about freedom and independence. Sometimes their thoughts overstep the limits and people stop thinking, because the most important thing in their life is to be loyal to their religion and church. This faith comes at a price.
“But Katie knew it was a sin, had known from the moment she made the decision to lie with Adam."
Being in the settlement of the Amish, Katie wants to see the whole world and make those things, about which she dreams. Finally, she has such a chance. Katie visits her brother and at that moment she feels free. She has her first adventures, her new friends, her first love, her first sexual experience. However, the transgression is not making love without the sanction of marriage. It is that for the first time in her life, Katie puts herself first. She puts her own wants and needs above everything and everyone else. The main thing in her life is religion and she must follow all the rules. However, the reader understands that Katie does not want this life. Her parents chose this way for her.
“All those connections, but everyone there seems so lonely.”
When Katie decides to visit her brother Jacob in State College, she notices one strange and sorrowful thing. In his world, where Jacob lives, people can reach each other in an instant. There are the telephone and the fax-and on the computer, people can talk to someone all the way around the world. People tells about other people’s secrets on TV talk shows and magazines that publish pictures of movie stars, trying to hide in their homes. People do not often communicate live or go for a walk together. Some of them hide their private life. However, on the Amish farm modern technologies do not distract people from communication. Here they enjoy the reality without any phones and electronic devices.
