Roasting corn is a boring subject in itself. We must find a way to abstract it, make it incongruous and suggest human values in the process. You do just that with this image. You abstract it by not showing us the whole thing -- only part of it, and thereby put us on intimate terms with the process. The battered can provides a handy niche for a fire, an incongruity of necessity. The human value: resourcefulness. These people obviously make the most of what they are given.
