Another Country Themes

Another Country takes place in New York City during the 1960s, when racial politics dominated cultural discourse. Although the North did not have laws that were as archaic as the American South’s Jim Crow laws (laws that upheld segregation), racial division and discrimination against African American people in particular was prevalent among even the more liberal demographics of New York City. Many of the white characters in the novel do their best to support their…

Love and sex are two facets of romance that the characters in Another Country often confuse for each other. There are a broad array of sexual encounters that take place in the novel, ranging from subtle displays of attention to passionate sex to rape. On the extreme end of the spectrum lies the troubling sexual dynamic at play between Leona and Rufus. The first time Rufus meets Leona, he forces her to have sex…

Rufus Scott, the Black jazz musician whose death by suicide is at the center of Another Country, is a radically alienated person. Because society has made him feel ashamed of his race and sexuality, he lashes out in a violent manner, looking for anything to make him feel alive and as though he can make an impact on his environment. According to Ida, Rufus’s sister, Rufus began life as a kind and…