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Keogh considers the ideas of "land" and "landscape" and examines the way they are used in Such is Life. For example, the attempted domination of landscape over land has parallels in the domination of women. In addition, the lost child, Mary O'Halloran, can also be seen as the personification of land, and those who are able to find her (Barefoot Bob), have a special empathy for the land. Keogh concludes that any attempt to impose a "foreign" landscape, in reality or symbolically, will be fruitless.