Spiritual Heritage
Azaro is the one with a spirit connection, but as the novel progresses readers begin to notice that his father also has strange encounters with spirits. Although Azaro is born a spirit-child, his eligibility to connect with the spirits seems to relate to his father. The two of them share this bond of discernment regarding spiritual forces and non-material subjects. When Azaro's father begins training to box, he starts being attacked by spirits. Azaro is the only one who can see them, but his father is targeted by the spirits. This confirms the legitimacy of his conviction that he must box. If the evil spirits are fighting him, then he must be doing something to threaten their authority in town. By the time he defeats the man in the white suit, Azaro's father has freed the town of the oppressive spiritual force which has been bothering them -- such as the spirits in Madame Koto's bar, -- especially Azaro. Wrestling with spirits in his dreams, Azaro's father participates in a similar battle as Azaro on a daily basis. Although Azaro's father doesn't see literal spirits like his son, he does understand them, believe in them, and see them in his dreams. The father-son connection appears to be the root of Azaro's family's success.
Symbolic Leadership
When Azaro's father decides to box, he becomes a leader in his community. Formerly kind of a deadbeat, he earns the respect of his neighbors by consistently improving in his craft. He draws crowds to his fights, even becoming popular among the elite, but he is the common man's champion. Just the same as the people made a monument from the party of the rich's van, they commemorate Azaro's father for his achievements. He represents his class, inspiring the other people to believe in excellence and seemingly impossible dreams. Pursuing his passion, he becomes a symbolic leader among the people, uplifting them. True his profession is conducted for entertainment, but entertainment and celebration are rare among this community. They need someone to believe in, even if the activity is potentially trivial. In the end, Azaro's father becomes a true hero by defeating the ghost man in the white suit and freeing the town from spiritual darkness.
Suspicion
The community in which Azaro grows up is deeply characterized by suspicion. The people remain somewhat aloof from one another because they literally cannot afford to do otherwise; they cannot get into trouble for someone else's sake. Azaro's family defies this expectation by housing Jeremy, the photography, while he's in hiding. Willing to risk their safety for his, they demonstrate a different value system than the rest of their community. Suspicion is rampant, however. Azaro's family's landlord becomes so paranoid about the boy's weird trances and illnesses and the father's drunken aggression that he charges them more than any other tenants. Madame Koto also demonstrates a deep superstition born out of suspicion. She observes the strange way that Azaro behaves and invites him to spend time in her bar, hoping he will attract positive energies. When he engages in spiritual warfare with some undesirable spirits, however, she becomes suspicious that he is actually the root of the problem. She eventually hangs an ornament in the door which serves as a spiritual magnet, but this only leads to more trouble because it appears to attract only malignant spirits. The townspeople, in turn, suspect her of witchcraft because of strange occurrences at her establishment. Each in their own way the townspeople are plagued by pervasive suspicion, doubtless the result of the severity of their daily lives.
