Poverty
Throughout the narrative there are several descriptions of poverty and hardship, they are by far the most numerous recurring image in the novel and with good reason: the author is trying to emphasize the fact that the era in which the story is set is truly a much more different, much harder age to live in. This is not just because of the absence of basic amenities that people living in the present take for granted but also because sweeping socio-political upheavals that are starting to affect a major world power at this time. The narratives of poverty are not limited to the literal economic poverty but also descriptions of poverty of morals.
Isolation
Isolation is another frequently encountered image in the narrative and there are several variations on the presentation of the image. There are descriptions of physical isolation such as in the case of Teo when he is incarcerated and the plot of land he leases where he and his family settle down after he is released from prison. Teo is relationally detached from both his sister Anne and her husband Stefan. Stefan, cares little for his family, leaving them frequently for drunken nights in the town taverns, and Anne, as a result of the emotional abuse she experiences is emotionally detached from her children with Stefan.All these characters are, in a manner of speaking, isolated from one another relationally.
The Power of Nature
Images describing the raw, untamed power of nature are also abound the novel and this helps to create a clear image that nature—whether it is the very land itself or the fickle climactic conditions that the characters contend with—are not at all subject to human control. In many situations in the narrative, nature is written as and acts nearly like an antagonistic character.
The Immigrant’s Plight
Descriptions detailing the immigrant’s plight can be found throughout the novel, and tied up naturally with the images of isolation are images of otherness that these newcomers must endure as part of the challenge of making this new land their own. The discrimination they must endure, the confusion, the longing for the familiar; these painful experiences are universal to the immigrant’s journey and these are all narrated in faithful detail.
