Robert McCammon’s Boy’s Life is a fantasy novel that explores dark, complex themes surrounding murder, racism, and crime as well as childhood innocence and imagination. Although 12-year-old Cory’s heart is pure at first, he witnesses and experiences incidents that illustrate the cruelties and significance of the world around him. 

The protagonist, Cory, comes face to face with death throughout the novel. From the murder of Little Scott to the unexpected death of his best friend David Ray, death came closer to Cory. What was just a new and curious concept, or the fate of a stranger, turned into something threatening and alive. At first, he prayed to God, hoping that the things he valued would not disappear, but when he saw the half-dead Traitor, he condemned his irresponsible wish. Death, he realized, was a foregone conclusion; trying to prevent it only causes suffering. The death of his close friend was tragic and unexpected, but through the event, he learned to accept the death of a loved one. 

The innocence of the child's imagination is exemplified in the romance of Daviley's departure: “Traveling, traveling, with planets and stars beyond and invitation books open to a single name. The solitary traveler has left this world. He will not pass this way again” (McCammon, 876).  Loneliness is inseparable from life, but as Cory learns, loneliness does not mean pain. It is only a state, a touching sense which can only be expressed by a single person. As a result, death transforms from a fearful phantasm to the beginning of another journey. 

The era of legal discrimination against Black people never fully ended. For most of the 20th century, Black people were perceived as inherently inferior and unworthy of the same rights as whites. While the law recognized them as free citizens, segregation and discrimination were still powerful forms of systemic oppression. One of the most prominent groups was the Ku Klux Klan. They planned terrorist attacks against Black citizens, and even young Black girls were mercilessly killed by their bombs. They have lost the most basic human kindness, they have flooded their heads with fanaticism and blood, and they have lost every good thing about being human. In the novel, the Ku Klux Klan deals with the underworld to destroy a new historical archive with a bomb, regardless of the impact on the neighborhood. They instigated and stirred the crowd to disregard the lives of all the Black people in an entire neighborhood when the flood came, and to laugh at the miserable images of a Black man on his knees begging for mercy. The stereotype of black slaves has been deeply etched into black people's genes, becoming a lifelong label. Even if the Ku Klux Klan was extinct, discrimination against blacks still exists, such as the black Freud incident that shocked the world a few years ago. In the discrimination which is passed down from generation to generation, the label of enslavement of black people can never be removed, and Martin Luther King's dream can never be realized. Clouds of history, only by time slowly grind off the edges and edges.

Cory finds that evil can dwell in any person, even if they appear innocent. As a doctor whose duty is to save the dying and heal the wounded, Dr. Lezander should have been a kind, responsible, and professional person. I cannot believe that such a seemingly calm, respectful individual could harbor such a malevolent mind. The seeds of evil were deeply planted in his heart, and when stimulated by the outside world, they quickly expanded and gave birth to the fruits of evil. He tried to forget the sins of the past and start a new life in peace. But time does not wash away all sins, and the punishment was the burden on his heart and the imprisonment of freedom. 

Families can also hide evils, and in the novel, the Blalock family comes from a vicious underworld. With their huge black market business and abundant wealth, they controlled everything: they engaged in the flesh trade, destroyed the beautiful young lives for greater interests, and regarded the lives of others as worthless. They ran casinos, plundered the property of the working people, and lured the simple people into the depths of darkness. They were like entrenched cancer in the Zephyr and continued to threaten the population’s safety.

And finally, the sins of the mob. After the bombs hit the houses, no one was willing to go and save the lives of the people in danger and offer their help. They were afraid, they were terrified, they balked, they refused to risk their lives, and they looked on when it mattered. After the gunfight broke out, no one but Owen, an old man, stepped forward to join the fight to the death. When the gunfight was over, all the strong inhabitants rushed from their houses to fight hypocritically. They were like the spectators in the satiric novels of Luxun, a famous Chinese writer, turning a blind eye to suffering and chasing after glory. All the sins merged into the dark background of this cozy-looking town. 

Death, discrimination, and evil piled up into the thick dust of Strange Wind Town. The dust obscured Cory's carefree childhood, his innocent friendship, and his love for his parents; light and beauty are shadowed by darkness in the story. Even though the world is full of sin, we can still choose to believe that "goodness is no name, and happiness is no dream” (Lord Byron, I have not loved the world).