Chapter 5 (pages 253-300) Summary

The narrator and Nelson continue to share stories from their past with each other, about their parents, childhood, and previous love relationships. They also continue to play point/counterpoint with each other arguing constantly about political and intellectual positions and Nelson's role in everyday Tsau life. The idea is for him to turn over the decision-making to the village's inhabitants and gradually phase himself out of the project completely. However, he sometimes has difficulty turning over the reins particularly in areas that conflict with his beliefs or attitudes.

Nelson does not want guns in Tsau although there is some difference of opinion on that in the village. The vervets, small monkeys, are being a pest in the village and some people feel they should have guns to defend themselves from this or more serious threats. Nelson does have a...