The universality of human experience
This novel is about very different people in different parts of the world. On the surface, it seems that the stories are essentially different, but it is thematic ideas that bring the story together. The format of the stories makes the reader ask this primary question: what do these stories have in common? They have in common that the humans are all involved in essentially similar plots that expose the dilemma of their limited points of view in a world too big for them to fathom all at once.
Terrorism and death
The stories commonly feature social disorder as a thematic thread. The first chapter is about a chemical terrorist attack in Japan. Several of the chapters feature the dramatic battle for justice in police departments across the world, and in other parts of the story, we see people devastated by death, like the grandma in the Holy Mountain. The reality of terrorism, warfare, disorder, injustice, and death are a thematic question mark spread out across the novel.
Reality and strife
The stories show human reality as a constant battle against strife and confusion. This thematic idea can be seen in the implications of the story. Since the humans in the plot are all limited, they often do what is right in their eyes, but different people have radically different perceptions of what is right to do, as in Tibet and China, where the Communists enforce a type of justice that is completely disenfranchising and horrifying to everyone else. The Buddhist question raised in these passages offers a thematic response to suffering: perhaps reality itself is only a field of human suffering.
