Jones explains, "[Cooper] brought realism and vitality to her portrait of rural life by revealing its 'variable' and 'changeable' nature, to be sure, but the very act produced a major flaw in the book" (xxxvii). Jones here suggests that Cooper's realistic portrayal of the natural world is the very downfall of her book. However, her narrative dedication to the natural world, to its vitality and constancy, necessitates that portions of the text be purely descriptive. Jones thus seems to contradict himself: the "one level" at which Cooper's text is "unsurpassed," he asserts, is in its ability to so accurately and faithfully describe the natural world. This strength, however, is also the weakness of the book. Finally, Jones does not define this "flaw" at all; instead, he proceeds to discuss Thoreau's Walden.