Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Same Kind of Different as Me, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Slavery and Racism
Homelessness
Reconciliation
Christian Faith
Charity, Love, and Ego
Summary
Analysis
Now living in Dallas, Ron and Deborah slowly begin to fall in love with each other again. Their family buys a 350-acre ranch home retreat with 28 cattle called Rocky Top. In 1998, they decide to move back to Fort Worth—they keep the ranch, though—and build another house. Within days of being in Fort Worth, Deborah reads a newspaper article about homelessness in the city and a homeless shelter called the Union Gospel Mission. She is enamored and convinces Ron to go. He concedes, but secretly hopes she will be put off by the homeless and give up on the idea.
Although Ron is beginning to let go of his self-absorption and materialism, much of his ego still obviously remains. Ron does not have any interest in serving the homeless; he only wants to please his wife, which creates a potentially harmful situation where one serves the downtrodden for ulterior motives, rather than any real love or compassion they feel for them. Once again, Ron’s personality still heavily contrasts with Deborah’s own, despite their mending marriage.
Themes
