"Neighbour Rosicky" opens with Doctor Burleigh diagnosing Rosicky with a failingheart. On one level, this is ironic, because it becomes clear over the course of the story that Rosicky is an unusually kind and loving man; far from having a "bad" heart, he has an exceptionally good heart.In another sense, however, Rosicky's heart—that is, his generosity and compassion—does prove to be a weakness. Rosicky, for instance, chooses a precarious life farming over a more stable existence in the city because he cannot bear the thought of harming others, even inadvertently; in the country, "You didn't have to choose between bosses and strikers, and go wrong either way. You didn't have to do with dishonest and cruel people" (Part VI, Paragraph 3). Although Cather makes it clear that Rosicky's kindness is something to aspire to, it is nevertheless true that it prevents him from achieving worldly success. Tellingly, it is also what eventually kills him, since he strains his heart while clearing thistles from a field for his sons' benefit.

Cather uses the graveyard near Rosicky's farm as a way of exploring the nature of life, as well as the differences between urban and rural existence. Unlike city cemeteries, which Doctor Burleigh characterizes as "arranged and lonely and unlike anything in the living world," the graveyard where Rosicky is eventually buried is fully integrated into its surroundings; it sits next to Rosicky's hay-field, is the resting-place for many of his neighbors, and seems like an extension of the open fields and skies (Part VI, Paragraph 32).