Dial says, "It don't matter how raggly the United States flag is, folks still got to live under it." Woven—or trapped—in the flag’s stripes are two "big folks", several diminutive figures have only slightly more mobility, but the resolute tigers remain free. Although none of the figures can operate outside the control of the "raggly flag," the tigers resist, or have been forced to resist, defining themselves in terms of the American dream that binds the others.