New England life
The novel takes place in Colonial New England, where small businesses are just starting in small English settlements. Mary is an English gal who comes in close contact with the Native Americans by her friendship to Hobomok. Life in New England is a mixture of old world ways and sensibilities, dropped in the middle of the wilderness, essentially. The English are sometimes at odds with the Natives, and sometimes, relationships seem more easy-going. Small wooden buildings and makeshift roads define English towns, and there is a specific costume associated with the English.
Hobomok's community
Compared to the English, the Native Americans are more organic as a people. They don't go through such great lengths to distinguish themselves from nature, and the old world sensibilities of the settlers are completely lost on the Natives. Hobomok sees the world through the lens of his universal love for all life, a love so deep he doesn't even kill animals, as Mary discovers. The Native community is concerned, to say the least, because it seems that the English are closed-minded about them and their perspective of the "New World."
Prejudice through imagery
Through the dialogue and behavior of the characters, the reader starts to see the imagery that governs their behavior. Their motivation is shaped by a narrative about the other. The European opinion of the Native Americans is that they are savages, and that although they seem to be humans, they are less humane than the English. That opinion is consulted in the London Company conflict, and when Mary goes hunting with Hobomok and finds out that he is not some blood-thirsty savage, the reader finds her surprised. She had a false prejudice.
Love and humanity
The idea of love is central to the story, but this isn't a love story. Rather, Mary goes into the woods to ask for something that, once she receives it, she denies it. She invokes love, and then Hobomok comes. He is an arbiter of love. His love for her crosses cultural lines, and he doesn't even like to kill animals—such is his universal love. This love is one that doesn't interest Mary in the slightest, because she doesn't have the empathy to entertain his point of view. Hobomok's love is not designed to allure her, but to offer a narrative portrait of empathy. He has all the reason in the world to hate Mary, but he cannot hate her because he sees her humanity as deeply valuable in a way that transcends his own interests.
