The Avatar echoes the social themes of most of Poul Anderson's fiction. The protagonist, Dan Brodersen, is a daring entrepreneur, handsome and sexually attractive. Officials of government and organized religion are hypocritical and sexually inadequate. As in Trader to the Stars (1964; see separate entry), society benefits from the actions of those who love freedom and who respect the economic needs of others. This is a familiar theme in Anderson's writings, and in The Avatar it is forcefully stated.

Like the future depicted in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949; see separate entry), The Avatar's future world looks disturbingly like our present one, changed in significant but plausible ways. Earth is ruled by sick-minded politicians for whom power over others is the only goal worth having. Those who live on Earth are slowly having their freedoms constricted and their burdens to the government increased. Bit by bit, liberties disappear and...