An examination of the attitudes and customs surrounding death among various African cultures reveals how profoundly different they are from the West in ideas about death. It also helps us to rediscover fundamental themes of the universal unconscious. Thomas seeks to show that native African attitudes toward death in a precapitalist society regard man as more precious than tools and products. Because of this anthropocentrism, there is an exaltation of life (in dance and song and myth) and a participation with nature in the acceptance and integration of death into life.