For women, survival is not a given.
By starting the plot line at a funeral of the dear friend of the four characters, there is a sense in which the injustice has already occurred, and now, in light of the severity of Beauty's death, the four are forced to face the threat against them instead of ignoring it. The threat is the blatant misogyny of their society and the resultant danger they must endure with the threat of the HIV virus which took Beauty's life in the first place. If they want to survive, it will take sacrifice, intuition and bravery, and none of the relationships will be left unscathed.
Marital abuse.
The husbands in this novel are terrible humans. Their misogynistic view of women leaves them feeling entitled to philander around behind their wives' backs. They all are seen to be guilty of this, but what is worse is that the way they rule their home leaves the women completely disenfranchised from their own marriage. Various levels of abuse are shown in each story, but there is no escaping the theme that each woman faces some kind of injustice in her own family.
The family is not a sacred place in misogynistic communities.
The novel focuses attention to the fact that suddenly, only because the women are in real danger, they realize their real plight. Not only is the threat of HIV terrifying, but they are severely under-represented in their own families, meaning that they don't have any respite from harm. Their lives are in danger because of their very own families. This theme underscores the importance of their continued commitment to one another, because they find safety in the love of the other women.
Women should stick together.
This leads to the next theme, the theme of female unity. Instead of being torn apart by their difficulties, the women make the intentional decision to participate in each other's lives and be there for moral support. This is especially important because the women don't have very many safe spaces to be honest and regroup their efforts for equality.
Feminism.
The novel is firmly feminist in tone. The call for women to survive their oppression is central to the plot, and the legacy of Beauty is the legacy of self-respect and self-love that brings about the courage to face oppression. This is an allegorical depiction of the feminist cause.
