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
Deborah loses her ability to speak and even to move, though she is still alive. After nearly a week of silence, a doctor tells Ron that she will not live through another day. While Ron, Mary Ellen, Carson, and Regan are sitting with her, Deborah suddenly cries, “Ron! Get me some wings!” and moves her arms up and down, as if climbing a ladder. In the late hours of the night, Deborah says that she can see angels in the room and begins pointing to them; minutes later she begins talking to Jesus. Ron and Regan wonder if they have just seen a “visitation,” and Ron tells his wife that it is okay to go with Jesus.
Ron, Denver, and Deborah experience many miraculous things in the final days of Deborah’s life. While the reader could argue that the events are simply random occurrences reinterpreted through the filter of Ron’s faith and thus not miraculous, in either case, the events have tremendous meaning for Ron. Once again, this showcases the ability of one’s faith to create meaning in the midst of tragedy.
Themes
Denver come to their house the next morning and tells Ron that the night before, God told him that the angels were coming to take Deborah, “but the saints on earth was holdin on to her body ‘cause her work here ain’t finished yet.” With the message, Denver saw visions of angels and lightning. When Denver tells Ron the time that he heard and saw his vision, Ron is floored—it is the exact same time that Deborah saw angels and spoke to Jesus.
Once again, Denver exhibits a prophetic capacity in the same way as Deborah did with her dreams about the mission. Denver seems to surpass Ron in the depth of his own faith, indicating again that their roles are reversed, and that Denver, though still homeless, is becoming the mentor in the relationship.
Themes
Three weeks pass and Deborah continues to live, despite all of the doctors’ constant predictions, and Ron realizes that Denver’s visions have been more accurate so far than any of the medical experts. Denver visits again; as he and Ron are drinking coffee, Denver collects his thoughts, and explains that although he had been living in the “devil’s prison,” Deborah’s God-given love and devotion set him free and changed his life.
While the story does not refute medical science—Deborah underwent chemotherapy, after all—it does present faith and the power of God to sustain as greater than any scientific knowledge or the capabilities of any of Deborah’s doctors. Denver’s declaration that Deborah as freed him once again demonstrates the power of Christian faith to compel love for others and create positive impact in the world.
Themes
