George Warburton
At a remote jungle outpost in Borneo, a clash of culture takes places between the only two white men there. George Warburton is the Resident. He is the epitome of the cultured Oxford-educated British snob. This despite having spent the last twenty of his fifty-four years on the outposts of civilization due to a fall from the graces of polite British society which he fervently tries to recreate in the jungle. Still, despite his upper crust bearing and adherence to the customs and conventions of a homeland far away from his colonial escape, he has come to love Borneo and respect its indigenous population on his own terms. This has made him quite effective in his administrative capacity and has earned him a certain return of respect from the native population on their own terms.
Allen Cooper
The other white man in the jungle is the recently arrived 30-year-old Allen Cooper sent to work as an assistant to Warburton. At first glance, the assumption would be that Cooper would be more attuned to the native culture. Although English, he hails from Barbados and does not share the privileged background or stuffy educational instruction of his boss. As might be expected, his lower class background instills in him a natural-born antagonism toward Warburton, but more surprising is equal disrespect shown to the natives. Unlike Warburton, he does find a way to respect them on any terms and pays the ultimate price for this failure of character.
Abas
A twenty-year old native youth whom is the only servant who has been willing to put up with Cooper’s abuse rather than give up the employment. Abas also wants to leave and has only stayed on because of fear of repercussions from his uncle, the manservant to Warburton. When Warburton learns that Cooper is holding back wages from Abas, he tries to warn him that such a tactic will only end badly, but Cooper refuses to heed his advice. The clear implication is that Warburton possesses the power to have put an end to growing tension long before it reaches the boiling point, but has developed such an intense disliking of Cooper that when Abas finally can take no more, he not only winds up avoiding punishment but starts being groomed by Warburton to eventually become his own new servant.
