Perfect nation
One of the central themes in the novel is the idea that every nation believes itself to be the best. The Indians view the whites as being cruel and savage while the whites see the Indians as being barbaric. The two nations harbor prejudices against one another and more than often what they believe about the other nation is not always true. This type of thinking stops them from thinking clearly and from trying to live in peace with one another. Instead of helping, then, this attitude makes them hate each other and want to either eliminate or integrate the other nation as to make them more agreeable and better in their opinion.
Interior conflict
True Son is a complicated character in the sense that he is a white person raised in an Indian tribe and taught to behave as a native. True Son was raised with the idea that he is a true Indian and thus that he must behave like one as well, hating everything that is associated with whiteness. Thus, even though he is white, he considers himself as being Indian. When he is taken by the white soldiers, he is being told that he must behave like a white person and accept the fact that he is what he was taught to hate. The novel follows True Son as he tries to discover who he really is and as he tries to adapt into a new environment.
Knowledge
Another central theme in the novel is the idea that certain nations have different types of knowledge and what a nation lacks the other nation has. What the Indians note about the whites is their lack of knowledge when it comes to nature and their surroundings. This is the result of the fact that white men are more interested in financial gain and how they can profit from their surroundings and are less interested in learning from what is around them. While for the Indians it comes natural to depend on their surroundings to gather what they need in order to survive, the whites are more independent and put less value on the land they live and more on their capabilities of exploiting it.
