Previous
Chapter 4
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
Mist seems to always cover the mountains of the village where Zeppa lives. She realizes that people don’t understand her, so she has to speak slowly and formally. She knows it’s just culture shock but still wants to go home—although she’s too afraid to ask to be sent back. Then one day, the mist parts, and she gets a letter from a British teacher named Jane in the nearby village of Tsebar inviting her for a weekend visit. Although it turns out the village is actually three or four hours away walking, Zeppa decides to go. The whole time she has doubts and fears getting lost or injured. Eventually, she runs into a boy who tells her she’s on the wrong path to Tsebar. He points her in the right direction, then tells her that he’s actually in her class. He’s Karma Dorji, and Zeppa follows him, his aunt, and his uncle to Tsebar.
On her trip to Tsebar, Zeppa learns that even traveling a short distance can be challenging for someone who isn’t used to traveling in this way. Still, as Zeppa is getting frustrated about her inability to navigate, she sees that the young Karma Dorji is able to do it on his own. The experience of going to Tsebar helps Zeppa realize that she is more capable than she gives herself credit for and that, as much as she is still stuck in her village in one sense, she also has the ability to go out on her own and explore Bhutan to an extent that she didn’t realize was possible.
Themes
