“The point of view of the burned-out farm wife wavering between desperation and endurance seals the imagery of the story into apposition of the hope of every crops inherent gamble, born on the back of her husband, John. Martha has seen and recognizes the gamble. She can name, not so lightly, the calamity that has been the end of so many crops, and this crop is the best one ever. Martha makes a mental list of how deserved her John is for this success as she ticks of the list, “A crop like this was coming to him. He had had his share of failures and set-backs, if ever a man had, twenty times over Wasting and unending it was as struggle, struggle against wind and insects, drought and weeds. Not an heroic struggle to give a man courage and resolve, but a frantic, unavailing one.” ”