Education As Protection
The theme of education saving people in a tight place runs throughout the book. First with Sibylla, then with Ludo as her pupil, the readers are introduced to how possessing knowledge can enable a person to defy expectations and adverse circumstances. Because Sibylla was well-educated, she was able to leave a system of oppression. Nobody could take the knowledge that was inside her head. In turn, she offers this her greatest gift to her son, teaching Ludo unimaginably difficult subjects from a young age. He's a prodigy, but more importantly Ludo learns to think critically so that he is able to challenge all six of the prestigious men whom he approaches as potential fathers. Finally, Ludo realizes that he is better trained than all of them, and chooses instead to carry on a friendship with Yamamoto because he's the only one able to sustain a challenging conversation with Ludo.
Self-reliance
Ludo grows up watching samurai films with his mother, who does so very intentionally. Because she knows Ludo will miss the absence of a paternal figure, she does her best to give him models of masculine behavior with which she agrees: the samurai. In all these films which Ludo comes to adore, he notices the samurai demonstrate a marked commitment to self-reliance. They solve not only their own problems, but they also look after other people and stand up for good. When he becomes a teen, Ludo desperately wants to meet his father to know what kind of a man he is. He's hoping for a master samurai to train him, perhaps not literally, but Ludo's mother has prepared him to be capable of such a training. After repeated disappointments when none of the men Ludo meets compare with the samurai, he decides that he will become a samurai like figure on his own. He turns inward to help himself gain the skills he needs as well as to point him in the direction of his future.
Ambition
Thanks to Sibylla's pushing Ludo in his education so early, he is completely consumed with ambition. He's determined to be the best at everything he tries. Additionally, he desires to attend Cambridge, having convinced himself he could attain top of his class there. As time wears on, Ludo starts demonstrating an attitude of superiority, which becomes especially apparent in his conversations with the six father figures. He starts to believe that he alone is uniquely gifted, but Yamamoto is able to challenge Ludo's isolating beliefs and to point him toward something more important than ambition: honor. Taking a few steps in the direction of humility, Ludo abandons Cambridge and instead asks Yamamoto to be his mentor.
