The novel also uses Evelyn and Mrs. Threadgoode's characters to examine women's aging. Throughout the novel we see Evelyn going through menopause as well as Mrs. Threadgoode's deterioration in old age. As the novel follows Sipsey's family, it analyzes the stark challenges they and other African Americans faced in society from the 1920s to the late 1980s.(Challenges which, for many, continue in contemporary times.) Memories and storytelling are discussed heavily in the novel. The moral justifications of murder and euthanasia are touched upon.