Okon and Elvis

After seeing his father drunk in the morning, and then watching a beggar scavenge rice off of the ground, Elvis treats the man to share his lunch. The man's name turns out to be Okon, and lets Elvis know that if he needs anything to call upon him. "I dey serious my friend, nobody knows tomorrow. Remember—Okon" (48). Elvis brushes the offering off with a casual "Ok, Okon," thinking that Okon could never be in a position to offer help, and the following paragraph draws a parallel between the two types of people in Marokol "Half of the town was built of a confused mix of clapboard, wood, cement and zinc sheets, raised above a swamp by means of stilts and wooden walkways. the other half, built on solid ground reclaimed from the sea, seemd to be clawing its way out of the primordial swamp, attempting to become something else" (48). The passage suggests that, like the buildings, Maroko is filled with people that are either disorganized, impermanent, and an almost "primordial" type like the beggars and his father, or else those who rise out of the swamp to become something more; something beyond the restrictions of the swampy Maroko.