OnlineBookClub.org

Here is a story about a vanishing or about to vanish race. This is one of the several social issues I realized from the story. What other social issues depicted in the story?

The issue of rape and sexual harassment is another issue we see brought up in the book.

The issue of children not being cared for or loved the way they should.

I've come across issues with sexual encounters and raising children.

Mjgarrison wrote:The issue of children not being cared for or loved the way they should.

That was definitely an issue that we saw.

Child sexual abuse , conservation (archaeological site) versus development,(mining) legends versus science to explain human origins, generational conflict illustrated by Tom and Sarah , family conflict, relational conflict (Myra and Sergei)

I agree with all. The author touched all that social issues. I would like to add culture to the above.

There are so many already raised in this thread. The only other one I can think of at the moment is related to "power" based on "wealth", as seen with Fletcher. He was able to get away with so much due to his power in the community.

The culture issue is hidden but significant. So many of life's problems are related to culture as much as personality.

While reading this book I thought a lot about the beauty of nature and the places the people were traveling through. I also have to agree with the fleeting nature of history. How little we know of the details of the past. How many people that died, even one hundred years ago, can I remember anything about them and their lives.

Bluecobia wrote:While reading this book I thought a lot about the beauty of nature and the places the people were traveling through. I also have to agree with the fleeting nature of history. How little we know of the details of the past. How many people that died, even one hundred years ago, can I remember anything about them and their lives.

Nature and the preservation of it is a theme we see a lot in the book.

What about love? The subtle affection between Sergei and Myra. It's not a dominant theme but also Thrower and Sarah.

Isolation of a child from the society if he/she fails to fit into the group is an important issue I feel raised in the book. The book shows us that if a child is unable to fit in the society, it does not necessarily mean that he/she is a psychopath. We just need to pay more attention to them and try to understand them so that they can open up to us.

Who knows? They might turn out to be amazing and super talented like Sarah.

A strong theme was preservation, protecting the wilderness from being ravaged by unscrupulous miners who are only out to make a buck, and the culture and traditions of the people who belong to it. They are also targeted as their jetties are taken over and they are forced out. Few are prepared to fight for the little people, even when they are in the right. Further to the theme is preserving the past and the artefacts of the past. Some find that irrelevant, but I believe stories and story-telling is vital. We need to know about those who went before.

sj_robert wrote:What about love? The subtle affection between Sergei and Myra. It's not a dominant theme but also Thrower and Sarah.

I think love is something we see spread all throughout the book. We even see scenes were the lack of love is a theme too.