Chapter 1

This first section of the book introduces its central important figure (narrator William), establishes his situation (an ambitious, energetic young man living in a disadvantaged African country), and the spiritual/moral circumstances within which that situation exists - specifically, the widespread belief in magic as a fundamental force at work in the day to day lives of the Malawi people. This last is particularly important, in that the presence of magic in William's life and work, the general belief by the community in such magic, and the general suspicion of anything that contradicts those beliefs (i.e. science) all manifest one of the book's central themes - the tension between science and magic (see "Themes").