Coming of age
In one way it's easy to spot the coming of age in the novel. She is aware of her lot in life. She is aware of the reality of her situation, and she understands that the alcoholism and depression that define her community are issues that she herself will need to face, because the pain of losing their culture and their way of life is a source of major suffering for those who loved their heritage. In another way, the coming of age is subtle. Truly, the sign of her "coming of age" is actually the fact that she can write this book with such acute attention to detail. It's proof that she's fully alive and awake as an adult.
The death of a heritage
Wallis spends a considerable amount of her time and energy explaining the way her culture faded. As the real demands of her real life forced her to adapt, she veered from the traditions that had been handed down for a thousand years before. This is a serious character dilemma for the writer, because the heritage that defines her is being abandoned by her. No scene captures this more poignantly than when her older relatives come to visit. She has undoubtedly changed, and the question is, should she feel ashamed of herself for adapting to a new normal?
Depression and alcoholism
Because the people in her clan are all experiencing the same basic frustrations that Wallis describes, many of them also share her silent but always present depression. Many, if not most of her clan drinks so much alcohol to cope with the pain of their station in life that they literally are not able to work because their bodies depend on alcohol intake. So, the live on government assistance. This is a serious dilemma in the book, because to Wallis herself, that is a fate that needs to be overcome somehow.
