The story makes it very clear that there are advantages and disadvantages in following the old ways of the ancestors and believing in the spirits. The story of the boy basically shows advantages and the story of Shandell shows the disadvantages.
The advantages for the boy are that his fear of the Binna Binna man makes him act in certain ways and those ways are positive and show his belief in the old ways. That belief acts a a brake on his behaviour. His belief in his girugundgi is a real advantage as it gives him advice, gives him strength and those things help him to know that he is on the right track.His acceptance is obvious in the way he speaks openly of being in Binna Binna country, his image of the stars watching over him like the eyes of his ancestors and his concern for Shandell and the way she has turned her back on the old ways.
It is clear that Shandell is "living different from the old ways" and that she is a "hard head". She is shown in a negative way, a way that tells us that her behaviour is because she doesn't respect the old traditions. She calls the adults at Yarrie "grog dogs" and says they are just trying to "scare us" with the stories of the spirits (particularly the Binna Binna Man). She believes that "things are different for us. Them old ways've gone". Her behaviour shows the disadvantages of letting the old ways go.
The book makes it clear that there are many disadvantages in letting the old ways go. The disadvantages are for both the adults and children. Popeye Bobby tells the family that if you forget the old ways "you get weak, you die". The message is that you must "listen to the old people" and this is true for everyone. Many of the adults at Yarrie aren't living the old ways. They have ahead of them "nights stretched long with breaking hearts, with drinking and fighting and sobbing" and this is what makes Shandell call them "grog dogs".
