Colonialism
Out of Africa is set against the backdrop of a colonialist Africa. Set in Kenya, which has been beset by problems caused by colonialist powers, the novel follows a woman named Karen Blixen, who manages a coffee plantation in British-ruled Kenya. While Blixen shows affection and respect towards the native Kikuyu people who work on her plantation, she is in a position of power, whereas her employees are not. Her relationship with the African people is multifaceted: she sometimes acts as a benefactor to them because of their poor financial position; other times, she learns quite a bit from them. The relationship between colonizers and those who were colonized is complicated. Genuine affection and appreciation exist for the colonizers even when they have power over them.
Relationships
Personal relationships, especially Blixen's relationship with the English hunter Denys Finch Hatton, are a central theme in the novel. Their romance, while passionate, doesn't conform to traditional structures; it is reflective of who they both are as people. Hatton's untamed spirit and love for freedom and the wilderness of Africa. Their relationship, like Blixen's complicated relationship with Africa, is characterized by both deep love and profound loss. The impermanence of their romance and Blixen's eventual departure from Kenya, Africa, highlight the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of loss. After all, everyone experiences loss in one form or another.
Solitude
Blixen's life in Africa is one marked by profound isolation. Despite the bustling environment around her, Blixen is an incredibly lonely woman. The challenges of running a plantation, combined with her often complicated and oftentimes rocky relationships, make her an outsider. She is loved by the people who work on her plantation, but she rarely spends time with them. As such, she is considered by many to be an outsider: she doesn't fit into the traditional group of European colonialists but is not fully integrated into African society either. This shows that, even when things appear to be going well for someone, or someone is in a seemingly very busy environment with a number of people, they can still be alone.
