One phrase I thought continually repeated and was very significant was that "All roads lead to Johannesburg" (Page 83). This quote is sad and depressing. Its revealed by chapter 9 that Absamol has stolen stuff and was kicked out of where he was staying, Gertrude is a prostitute and the priests brother has left the church. By all these examples about people that have went to Johannesburg I would say it strips people of their the "culture". More so I would say Paton is trying to say that the entire nation is losing their culture with places like Johannesburg that lure the young.
A reoccurring imagine that is extremely important in this book is landscape. The entire first chapter and countless lines throughout the book are devoted to setting. Paton first described a spectacular landscape only to tell us how it has been destroyed by man. I believe both the destruction of the natural setting and the destruction of the natives culture goes hand in hand.
A concept I believe is important and saw throughout the book while reading is "being lost at home". When Stephen is on the train going to Johannesburg he mistakes a smaller town for it many times. Then when he arrives and he's looking for his relatives he talks about it like its a foreign land. I think this is Paton trying to show how much the culture and the nation itself has changed. While Stephen has been in Ndotsheni his home country has changed so much he doesn't even recognize it when he comes home.
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