Promiscuity
As a romance novel, Circling the Sun revolves around Markham's unfortunate sex life. She has her first sexual experience with her first husband at the age of 16, but he's impotent. The two have no love for one another, their union being for economic reasons. Consequently Markham is a willing target for Finch Hatton. He's a renowned large game hunter and a notorious lady's man who supposedly drugs a lot of women. This is the situation in Markham's case. Whether she's suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or just being a romantic, impressionable young 18-year-old, she falls in love with him instantly. After he refuses to make any commitment to her, Markham sets out on a life-long quest to forget him, but she can't. After two more unsuccessful marriages and countless sordid affairs, she seems to thrive upon gossip. She's staked all of her decisions upon impetuosity born out of her refusal to address her broken-heart. In the end Hatton dies in a plane crash, which seems to finally put an end to Markham's promiscuity as the object of her infatuation no longer exists.
Resourcefulness
Markham has a tough go of it from day one. As a child, she must learn to take care of herself after her mom leaves. The neighbors help, and she lives with her dad, but nobody is really taking responsibility for her. A victim of ill fortune, she finds herself repeatedly facing life or death situations, such as surviving a lion mauling. At 16-years-old, she marries her neighbor because her dad loses their house and she's on her own now. Although she doesn't love her husband, he does put food in her mouth. Markham's resourcefulness manifests differently when she's an adult. She uses her determination and ingenuity to become a world-class horse trainer and even a pilot. Whatever the challenge, Markham tackles it head on with confidence. Some of her choices may be considered mistakes, but she makes them cleverly in order to gain some sort of advantage.
Colonialism
The story is set in Kenya while it was a colony of England. As is evident from the very beginning, Markham's English parents are part of the problem. The British have entered Kenya, corrupted its native culture, and all but enslaved the natives. Not allowed to persist with their ancient traditions and rituals, the Kenyans live a pitiful, subservient lifestyle which merely hints to its rich cultural heritage. Markham is sort of adopted by her community, so she is raised with an appreciation for African culture especially through her combat training. It's a rough environment to grow up in, but Markham remains in love with the place until the end of her life. After a brief sojourn in England, she returns to Kenya in order to fly planes. Technology has changed the native landscape, but the people continue to advocate for their independence from England. This depiction of colonialism is somewhat white-washed but certainly worth noticing.
