Death and mortality
What is it that makes life so difficult for Trond's father after WWII? It is his encounter with his own death. To be attacked by a military with more sophisticated technology than one has ever seen before—that is true horror. But Trond's life is also horror. He accidentally shot someone just like his father did in war, but Trond was just being rebellious and playful, and it was an accident. Then, Trond learns of death from the death of his wife and the deaths of his father and mother.
Property ownership
The novel questions the idea of property ownership strongly by introducing a character with the Communist star tattooed on his arm. Then, Trond discusses land ownership in his own literal life, talking about his closeness with nature and his dominion in his home. He also discusses wealth and obscene property ownership. The title implies his opinion: he feels like Robin Hood when stealing horses for his family from the wealthy trader in town.
Time and change
The other major problem of the novel is that the changes in Trond's life often cause him to feel extremely disturbed, because he tries not to think about change. He was often subject to very radical changes, and he has chronic aversion to bad news. That is understandable, given how much bad news and sadness time has brought him in life. Now time brings him to his own inevitable death, and he has to attempt some sort of theory, he feels, about why life should end in death in the first place.
