Life's Purpose

For much of the novel, most of Dex's internal conflict stems from the fact that they do not understand their purpose in life and want to feel like their actions have a meaning beyond themself. Our introduction to Dex comes with them deciding to leave the City on Panga to take on a new job as a tea monk in the country in an attempt to feel like the fundamental and elusive thing that is missing in their life is finally there. It seems to work for awhile, but they find themself once more unenthusiastic about the work they are doing only a couple years after they start. They constantly think about their life in terms of what meaning they are providing to the world, and that turns out to be a basically unanswerable question that really only drives them to more and more confusion...