Other themes in the novel include what Michael Collings calls "The Epick of Mormonism". Card interweaves religion throughout the novel which plays a large part in the beliefs and morals of the family and the novel. More prominent than Mormonism is the theme of the reality of America as the family lives in a world surrounded by deception, greed, and evil. The community to which the Fletchers belong does not uplift them, but hurts them, exemplified by a fanatical church member, a cruel elementary school teacher, a pedophilic coworker, and a serial killer landlord. It is only at the end of the novel that the Fletchers achieve the sense of community that they were seeking. Stevie is the vehicle for which Card mourns his own "lost boy", his son, yet also represents innocence and purity on a larger scale. Michael Collings argues that the ending of the novel transitions it from a "realistic" novel to a "mythopoeic" one.