Compare and contrast the settings of Johannesburg and Ndotsheni. What keeps former residents of Ndotsheni in Johannesburg? What pushes people out of Ndotsheni? How does a comparison of these two settings highlight the functioning of colonialism in the text?

What are the roles of women within the novel? How do they figure into the novel’s themes and the history of colonialism?

Alan Paton includes several biblical allusions in the novel, such as the names Stephen, John, Absalom, and Theophilus. What is the literary significance of these allusions?