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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Beyond the Sky and the Earth, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Culture Shock and Home
Buddhism and Everyday Life
Ethnic Nationalism and the Outsider Perspective
Women’s Role in Society
Summary
Analysis
It takes Zeppa five flights in four days to make it to Thimphu, capital of the small, mountain-filled country of Bhutan. At a hotel, she meets two fellow Canadians, Lorna and Sasha, who have also come to teach. They both seem enthusiastic, and Zeppa spends time with them, hoping to feel the same way. They go to meet Gordon, their program director.
Zeppa attends orientation sessions about life in Bhutan. While much of Asia was explored and often colonized by Europe, few Westerners made it to Bhutan. The country is heavily Buddhist, meaning they don’t kill insects or rodents. They are also hold relaxed views about sex, with little ceremony around marriage and no stigma about divorce or children out of wedlock. Zeppa is nervous hearing about how difficult evacuation is in case of a medical emergency, but the other teachers are more experienced and seem to be enjoying themselves.
The importance of Buddhism in everyday life is one of the defining features of Bhutan. At this orientation, Zeppa learns only a broad summary of this role that Buddhism plays in life. Later, she will witness firsthand both how some parts of this orientation turn out to be accurate but also how everyday life doesn’t always match up with the orientation’s broad generalizations about life in Bhutan.
Themes
Zeppa was raised Catholic and first learned about Buddhism from Robert, who used to practice Zen meditation. She reads about Buddhism at night in the hotel. She already knew about Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, who was born a wealthy prince but abandoned his title to seek enlightenment.
Zeppa’s early experiences with Buddhism reflect its worldwide spread during the 20th century. The Buddha’s rejection of material wealth will play an important role in Zeppa’s own quest to figure out her values.
Themes
One Saturday morning, Zeppa goes with Lorna and Sasha to a vegetable market. Watching work at a butcher’s stall bothers Zeppa but not Lorna, who grew up on a farm. Afterwards, they go to a bank to cash travelers’ checks, where everything looks archaic, and it takes a long time. Zeppa tries to learn patience. She has stopped eating meat, partly due to fear of parasites and partly after witnessing butchers work at the market.
Zeppa’s squeamishness about watching butchers work shows how in her upbringing, she is disconnected from the process of making food, in contrast to the subsistence farming culture in much of Bhutan where people know exactly where their food comes from. Her frustration with the bank similarly shows how she has been raised in a culture the values efficiency but has little room for patience.
Themes
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Zeppa begins learning the local language, Sharchhogpa-kha or “Sharchhop” for short, from a teacher named Chuni. Zeppa learns that even in English, there is new slang she has to contend with, like “expat” and “lateral road.” After giving lessons on grammar, Chuni tells stories about “poison villages,” witches, demons, and yetis, claiming that they’re all true and listing places where the events happened.
Chuni’s lecture, which mixes together grammar facts with legends about demons and witches, shows how fact and mythology exist together in Bhutan. Although this is strange to Zeppa, she tries to understand it, even as she is overwhelmed with all the new ideas and slang words that she encounters.
Themes
One afternoon, Gordon drives Zeppa, Lorna, and Sasha to the Paro Valley. The landscape is beautiful, although a part of Zeppa wonders what’s happening beyond the mountains. She longs for news of the outside world. That evening, they have dinner, and Zeppa feels happy and connected to the other teachers, including Rita, a British teacher who’s been there for a year. But later, as she prepares to leave Thimphu to go to her posting, she gets nervous about the future. As it turns out, snow is blocking the pass, so she’ll have to stay in Thimphu longer for more orientation instead of leaving as planned. Zeppa wants to go home instead.
The Himalayan Mountains, which are some of the most famous natural features of Bhutan, seem to provide a physical separation between Zeppa and her past life. Although even at this early point, she can appreciate the beauty of the mountains, she also tries to look beyond them. This reflects her discomfort in Bhutan and her culture shock. The snow that blocks the roads seems to confirm Zeppa’s fears that the mountains can trap her.
Themes
