Well, it's an adventure story, and a Bildungsroman, of course, but there was also the intention to describe a culture that had been seen in rather narrow terms.
“Sometimes it seems that we are successful only because we have not tried hard enough for our best. We do the hard thing, and one day we succeed, and many things are made plain to us.”
“NAFTA recognizes the reality of today's economy - globalization and technology. Our future is not in competing at the low-level wage job; it is in creating high-wage, new technology jobs based on our skills and our productivity.”