J F was trying to warn against or at least contemplate the intensity of human activity in the New World.
He is also illustrating the clash of class as urban life intercedes onto rural life.
The series is out of order in that the 1st book printed t(his one) is telling the story of the aged and failing Natty and how civilization intrudes on his idyllic world
We have slaves, rich men, wilderness men, and the daughters of these men round out the characters list too. And of course at the end (as with all writings of this period) our young couple get the riches
The wealthy are doing what they always do; trying to make a buck by buying low and selling high.
The natural unavoidable instinct of the rich to look into the wilderness, buy it and strip it into wealth.
The American continent has provided this never ending source of easy money up until about the 1970s when the expansion ended.
I really liked all of the other books in the series, this one is not up the the exciting writing standards of the others
