Throughout "The Lost Salt Gift of Blood,"Alistair MacLeod presents many instances where outside forces threaten the values of traditional people trying to protect the harmonious way of life that they lead. In dealing with these hardships, MacLeod brings to light the strong pride tradition, simplicity and self-sacrifice of the people who work the land, and their acceptance of the brutal conditions of such a life. In the anthology, Macleod represents the simple family and heritage–based community with sympathy because he finds it more virtuous than the modern way of life.
             This judgement is often exhibited in the characters of the stories, by showing in them qualities of virtue. Consider the mother in "The Boat." She is described as fearless, powerful, energetic and proud. She is a woman who is ruthless in the execution of ideals she holds to be righteous. It is not necessary for her to be a benevolent character. It is her integrity and clan-like loyalty to "her" people that are desirable to Macleod. She finds anything of the outside to be unworthy, as in the situation of the money earned by the father from the tourists, money she would not accept. Neither would she accept the articulate young men who married her daughters and took them away from physical hardships. She finds things that are too easy to be of lesser quality than something struggled for, not because of material value, but because of the value of the struggle. This opinion seems to be a refection of MacLeod's opinion.
             It is a sentiment repeated in a different way in "The Vastness of the Dark." When the father in this story gets violently drunk, it is up to the son to nurse him through it. These are times where the worst of the father is shown, but it seems that without these dark instances, the good pats of his character would not be able to be distinguished. The son feels this strongly, and tells it to the...