"A person is from wherever they feel best, and roots are for plants. Everyone knows that, don't they?'
Santoro's primary dilemma is his relationship with his father. After learning that his dad was a government informant, he feels deceived and corrupt himself. Santoro must distinguish his identity from his father's decisions in order to maintain his mental health. He begins to recognize the arbitrary nature of the associations with which people tie themselves.
"The gradual and imperceptible subsidence of the waters, that's the alluvium. Thus am I gradually left alone, thus have I been left alone."
Both Santoro and his father are lonely. They find no consolation in one another, but through their relationship begin to feel increasingly distant. For Santoro this means he must accept his own independence, devoid of his father's acceptance, yet he seems to see reminders of his solitary status everywhere he looks.
"That's how he saw the contradictory and even unbearable situation of being enclosed in a language that didn't think like he did but like his father: that's where those desire to rebel against his home came from."
Santoro feels trapped in his heritage, eager to separate himself from his father. Continually he notices how his dad is merely a product of his environment, a stooge of his society. Santoro endeavors to break free of the boundaries of culture, even language, which he feels too closely support his father's hateful position. This act is difficult, however, because Santoro is also a product of his environment and cannot undo his heritage, despite how he dresses, talks, or thinks.
