Religion

Religion and the belief in a higher being plays a central part in the novel. The Shark People who live on the island of Alualu, worship Vincent Bennidetti, the pilot of the Sky Priestess, as their god. Vincent landed on the island during World War II, and impressed the chief, Malink, with his seeming endless intelligence and ability to provide care for the natives. At a time when the people of the island were much oppressed by the Japanese, Vincent brought them hope, something the boy chief had all but lost as his family and the majority of the men in the tribe were killed or taken by the Japanese soldiers to perform slave labor. Vincent's arrival, coupled with the murder of the priest on the island that had been trying to convert the natives to Christianity, leads Malink to worship the spirited pilot as a god.

Elizabeth...