Themes
Stereotypes
Definitely one of the most important themes of this story would be prejudice and stereotypes. This is because once reading the story you discover how culture and religion can be mixed up - this leads to pre-judging someone or a group of people. This story mentions how the white man's family think of him converting to Islam - so much so his parents would not attend the wedding (which was being held in Sudan). The first line of the story is "Her country disturbed him" which shows us the vast cultural differences which are discovered instantly, her country is given a negative connotation of being dry and empty with no depth. The story also mentions "She couldn't understand why anyone like him would one to join the wretched of the world." which clearly tells me that she thinks her life has rooted from her religion - this mixes up religion and culture as the European man has found peace through Islam whereas the Sudanese woman thinks her religion is her weakness.
Death and Danger
In the story there are events which represent death and danger. In the story it is mentioned "Crocodiles no doubt lurked beneath the surface hungry and ruthless. He could picture an accident: blood, death, bones". The European man thinks of Sudan as a dangerous place which is shown in line 49, which describes the Nile in the European man's opinion - "forceful, not innocent, not playful". Another way death is shown in the story is when the Sudanese woman's uncle dies and the European man is exposed to "rituals of grief he knew nothing about". Whilst reading this we sense the European man is uncomfortable and is being put in some sort danger which he doesn't know about.
Culture
This story reveals the challenges of moving cultures and having relationships with people of a different cultural heritage. After the couple got married, the bride's family said "Congratulations we've given her to you now" - to mean the literal interpretation would be that the bride has been auctioned and the highest bidder was the European man. The relationship between the brother and the groom seems to stay okay as the story progresses as near the end the brother lures the groom to pay for the wedding, leaving the groom feel like "he had paid for her".