"Tularecito" is a myth about truth. Tularicito, just a character of that myth, is the focus for this glossed over fable. Steinbeck draws on this form of genre to present the idea that we are all a part of what happens to others, based upon our nature. The image presented of Tularecito is that of a demon, an idiot savant, a boy with a gift from God, and that gift"s cost. He is a freak, a dangerous misfit, an innocent who does not need the constraints of reality. Tularecito is a test. The test is one of moral caliber. It...
calculated violence, but very much like a motor nerve reaction. He reacts with pure emotion and pain, and eventually he kills.

Steinbeck tells an interesting story with Tularecito as a mirror. In fact, all the characters in the story are mirrors. As we look at them we see how we measure against them. But Tularecito is a mirror with an infinity of sides. He is a tool for testing human beliefs, one of which is that sometimes, it is better to leave things alone than to try to force them into our mirror image of how they should exist.