The beef and jell-o in the story  both serve as  a reminder of culture and reality. Silva’s surreal hold on the Yellow Woman is broken when they are caught with the stolen beef. He becomes less a spirit and more of a person when she sees this and even starts to think of him as a vagabond Navajo.  The jell-o also serves as a reminder of what her current culture really is, and makes her miss her traditional culture.

While reading “in Camera” I was infuriated with the Father. The hypocrisy that she shows in this culture is tremendous. First the Father praises Leila’s  heroism as the crowd cheers for her accusation of the king, but is quickly reminded of the “shame” she has brought him and is soon cursing her. It shows how her Father doesn’t truly feel for his daughter, only what shame or honor she may bring him.

The title quickly introduces us to the theme of the story.  It serves to tell us how that when we face death it changes us. The senator who had a loving family and wife easily succumbs to temptation when faced with his own mortality.