Sal resents Mrs. Cadaver because she suspects that she is taking her mother's place in her father's life. Sal feels angry that she and her father left the farm in the first place. ... Cadaver's friendship with Sal's mother, resents her father for being unfaithful to her mother's memory.
"It seems to me that we can't explain all the truly awful things in the world like war and murder and brain tumours, and we can't fix these things, so we look at the frightening things that are closer to us and we magnify them until they burst open. Inside is something that we can manage, something that isn't as awful as it had at first seemed. It is a relief to discover that although there might be axe murderers and kidnappers in the world, most people seem a lot like us: sometimes afraid and sometimes brave, sometimes crueland sometimes kind. "
In the last chapter, Creech wraps up the narrative by giving us Sal's thoughts on some pretty profound topics. In the above excerpt, Sal says that you can manage all the bad things in life by considering the inner person. She explains that people aren't black-and-white: they're shades of gray, and they're relatable. When you think about the deep character of "bad" people, you can relate to them more.
