Within the first six chapters of Beka Lamb, there were many important themes that were noted. The three major themes out of the many that were presented were death, racism and poverty.

The theme that was stressed on the most throughout these chapters was death. This theme was first introduced with the lines, “The font verandah was in evening gloom, and the honeyed scent of flowering stephanotis, thickly woven into the warping lattice work, reminded Beka of the wreaths at her greatgranny’s funeral.” The word gloom gives a visual of depression and sorrow ,which is most times tied too death. Another aspect of death is shown in the passing of Beka’s best friend Toycie, altough this leaves Beka in a sort of emotional wreck, she keeps her pain to herself and handles it privtaely and silently.

Altough it reveals itself briefly throughout the six chapters, another significant theme is racism. Racism is seen when Beka achieves success in her essay contest. Her family continuously cautioned her that prizes were only awarded to backras, panias and expatriates. This shows that only people of certain ethnic backgrounds were those who were expected to achieve success in life.

Racism is also prevalent in Beka’s nightmare in chapter two, when the sailors called to her,”Jump nigger gial, Jump! We’ll ketch you.” These men mocked at her rather than try to help her, they also laughed at her in her state of confusion.

One of the most serious issues in Belize, presented as a theme was poverty. After Toycie’s death, Miss Elia was incapable of hosting a traditional wake ,because , she was financially unable to do so. Another example was shown in Beka’s description of the houses in her town. She says, “Many of the weathered wooden houses, built fairly closely together, tilted slightly as often as not, on top pine wood posts of varying heights.” These lines further paint a vivid picture on the issue of poverty which people suffered from in Belize.