Terry Tempest Williams main claim is to stand against wrondoing even if it means questioning your family, religion and everything you've been taught.
Williams' tone in this piece is defiant and angry at the government for allowing nuclear testing to go on where people were effected and at her mormon culture for failing to do anything about it. A passage that expresses her tone is, "The price of obedience has become too high. The fear and inability to question authority that ultimately killed rural communities in Utah during atmospheric testing of atomic weapons is the same fear I saw in my mother's body. Sheep. Dead sheep. The evidence is buried."
Williams also uses metaphor in this piece. She uses the word sheep to describe the women of her culture who have died of breast cancer. Sheep has religious significance for Christians in that Jesus calls his followers sheep and he is the shepard that leads them. This describes her culture's faith and obedience toward their Savior. Williams', however, uses the term sheep in a negative way, calling them dead sheep. Sheep, the animals, have a reputation for being too trusting and stupid. They follow mindlessly anyone who leads them. Williams' uses this definition as a metaphor for her people mindlessly following the government and enduring blatant injustice. The government allowed cancerous nuclear radiation to consume the mormon communities for years without the mormon community protesting or rising up against it. Williams' is in conflict between her two defintions of sheep. One is defined as faith and a sense of duty. Another is too trusting and blind.
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