There is an understanding of a patriarchal order in both the New Guinea tribal world and the anthropologists’ world. While the men are dominant, women find ways of asserting themselves and their own visions for life and society.

In the system of the Grid, Fen, Nell, and Andrew develop the notion that tribes differ in temperament according to an axis that can be likened to compass points. Often, the temperamental orientation is dependent on the balance of power between men and women in the tribes. The Mumbanyo tribe dominates the Northern “aggressive, possessive, forceful, successful, ambitious, egoistic” (186) side of the spectrum. They commit practices such as sacrificing first-borns and killing twins, as they are believed to be the result of sex with two different fathers. The murder of twins ensures the father’s rights over the mother because the legitimacy of issue can be clearly distinguished with single births. The Mumbanyo tribe’s patriarchal intimidation also extends to the fathers’ incestuous copulation with the daughters when they reach the age of 7 or 8, which causes the latter to grow up “distrustful, vindictive and murderous” (47).

Fen, who proudly has the Northern temperament, exhibits a similar competitiveness to the Mumbanyo culture that “enamor[s]” (47) him.