Jacob as a moneylender and pig merchant prospers by taking advantage of other
people’s misfortunes. But when he seeks to exploit the famine afflicting his village
Tonga by lending money to the poor villagers with high interest, does not
reckon with sacrilege his pigs would commit that will give the people an opportunity
to feast on his own misfortune.
When this happens, the community gives way to individual desires and the stomach
dictates to the head what it should think and believes in.

Reason bends to absurdity and custom bows before bizarre novelty. Life explodes
into a sinister mess that points to only one outcome: Jacob’s and society’s ultimate
ruin.