Richard

Richard embodies the transformation of intellectual curiosity into moral awakening. At the novel's beginning, he is a retired classics professor living in comfortable isolation, more preoccupied with the body decomposing at the bottom of his lake than the living bodies seeking refuge in his city. His initial engagement with the refugee crisis is academic rather than personal—he memorizes African capitals and researches migration patterns, approaching human suffering as he would any scholarly subject. This intellectual detachment reflects broader European tendencies to process humanitarian crises through frameworks of analysis rather than empathy, keeping messy human realities at arm's length.

Throughout the novel, Richard undergoes a profound evolution as abstract knowledge gives way to personal connection. His habit of mentally renaming refugees after classical figures (Apollo, Tristan, "the thunderbolt hurler") gradually disappears as he learns their actual names, histories, and aspirations. Small moments—Rufu paying for his groceries, Osarobo...