comment on theme

An age-old theme of a significant body of literature, Brazzaville Beach offers its own discussion of man's rather universal search for meaning and purpose in one's life. Hope seems to have moved through a number of life-altering events, each of which appear to have shown her what her purpose is not. As a young intelligent woman, trained to be a scientist and married to a mathematical researcher, she forms the rather naive notion that her purpose is defined by her plant research and support of her husband in his quest to resolve issues of mathematics. The death of John Clearwater and the end of her plant project send her off in a new direction. Perhaps original research on an animal so close to the human will give her a sense of purpose. Again, she is disillusioned, not only with her fellow scientists but, as well, the futility of attempting to find some sort of logic in behavior of both animals and men.