One of the major themes of this book has to do with competing ideas regarding the best way to assist indigenous populations. It's more like a question that the book never explicitly answers, though it might, perhaps, implicitly. The Institute of Linguistics and the Christian missionaries who come to the forest seem to believe that they are helping the Machiguenga; however, the reader might conclude that they are, in fact, doing some disservice, even some violence, to this community's way of life. On the other hand, is it actually possible to completely protect such a population—especially when nomadism is such a part of their culture—from encroaching deforestation, whites, or even other Peruvians who would exploit them? Though the first narrator champions the strategy of assimilation, his childhood friend, Saul Zuratas, advises that these groups be left completely isolated in order to allow them to best preserve their culture.

Another major theme has to do with the concept of storytelling and its incredible importance in any community. Someone must remember and tell the stories of a culture in order to keep that culture alive. The Machiguenga are so careful to protect their storytellers, and those storytellers serve a vital role in the community, keeping the stories of the past alive as well as conveying news across the diaspora of Machiguenga.

A final theme has to do with identity and acceptance, that one can adopt a new identity when one finds acceptance within a new community. In addition, one cannot obtain this acceptance by seeking to change a community but only by appreciating and loving it. Saul, the narrator believes, has found acceptance within the Machiguenga, though he is not Machiguengan. The words of the other, storytelling narrator seem to support this claim, as he describes his unique facial birthmark (a birthmark that would have resulted in his death, as a baby, if he were native Machiguenga). Despite the fact that Saul was never truly accepted by other citizens of his country or his religion—he was always an outsider as a result of this birthmark—the Machiguenga came to fully accept him, just as he loves and honors them.