In this novel we see normal human life and community, but set against the backdrop of constant terrorist threats from the IRA, and set also against the aesthetic backdrop of 1970's Britain. In those days, the social underground was in a punky, rebellious mood that made people join communities, because there was so much wrong in the culture, they felt, that they were pushed together, as if by nature itself, to express their opinions and share experiences.
Therefore, the novel portrays a cast of characters that are simultaneously formed and formless. They are formed, because they know enough about their identities to know who they are, more or less. For instance, Doug is a writer, and he knows it. Ben Trotter is a musician, and he knows it. Claire Newman is confident she doesn't want to be a Christian anymore. But yet, these characters are formless because they are so open to new experience that they are dynamic and growing constantly.
Ultimately, the value of their insight is that they are openly proclaiming the change of guard from older, mid-modern ideas, and progressive, different ideas. They are indulgent as people, because they are young, but their passion stakes a new territory for their national identity. This is British punk under a microscope, and it shows that although they are progressive, they are still embedded in community. Although their identities are different in some ways than those of the previous generation, the characters are still properly British, because after all, things change.
