Animism and witchcraft

Animism, or the so-called primitive form of religion practiced in Africa and some other Third World countries, becomes a major theme of this work because of the constant interplay between the "real" world and the world of the spirit filled with gods, demigods, demons and magic. Anansi, which translates roughly as "the spider who created the universe," is the physically dead but spiritually alive father of Fat Charlie and Spider who is always in the background playing an invisible part of their lives.

Anansi is not a sky god of western religions, but a physical reality found everywhere in nature. The Bird Woman also is an animistic apparition, an evil goddess who brings hordes of dead flamingos down from the sky as a curse on Spider. Her spell can not be broken until Fat Charlie and Spider return the feather she gave them in exchange for...