Political, Social and Economic Injustice

In many ways author Norman Rush makes the issue of political, social, and economic injustice the true setting of his story with Africa as a local example. The recognition and pondering of this theme is what drives the characters and much of the action in the novel. Nelson Denoon has devoted his life and intellect to solving the problem and the narrator's perception of him as a great man is induced by her own discomfort with the inequalities and unfairness of human society. Certainly the village of Tsau and its inhabitants are metaphors for an attempt at a solution.

The author also explores the way a society maintains balance even at a great cost to some of its members, i.e. how the downtrodden sometimes accept their own victimization because it feels familiar to them. He also raises the issue of people deciding for...