the Prologue of 2kS (2000 Seasons) is a lyrical snapshot of the current state of the world. "The desert" that Armah refers to in the prologue is Western Civilization, with the "Springwater", referring to people of Color, Africans in particular. Armah doesn't try to beat you over the head with polemics (although many folks will disagree on this). You will see as you get into this, that in contrast to his earlier work (Beautyful Ones...) he does not try to draw you into the specific characters- they are all pieces to a huge landscape. Outside of the core group of characters you will meet, the majority of the characters fall under the categories that Armah begans to introduce in the Prologue: Seers, Hearers, Killers, Predators, Zombies, Utterers, etc.

The beauty of this technique is that even in the prologue, the abstract lyricism places his themes outside of the time period the actual story is set within; thus the prologue can be taken and applied to ANY stories of oppression you are familiar with and you will recognize these patterns.