I thought that The Place Behind the Pines was a good movie. I thought that Luke and Avery both had very similar dreams. They wanted to be successful and have a family. Luke was more focused on getting money for his family. He was willing to go to any lengths just to provide for them. As soon as he knew he had a son than he quit his carnie job. He had to do a lot of bad things but he thought it was worth the risk to provide for Jason. He had a big moral argument at first. He threw up right after he robbed the bank.

Avery just wanted to live his life and be succesful. He seemed to want to follow in his father's footsteps and have something to do with the law. He had a lawyer's degree and did work as a cop. The whole reason he became famous is that he shot and killed Luke.  By the end of the movie he wanted to just have a good political career and seemed to care less about his family. His son came to live with him because his mother couldn't show him how to become a man. At first he was reluctant to take him because of how busy he was.   His original goal was having a family but at the end all he had was a political career.