Novel
"The Dancing Hawk" refers to the son of a peasant who senses he can climb to the job in troubled times by playing his cards right. His slavery to work match his ambitions, and gradually he reaches the social position he desires. But the costs have included a dehumanized soul and a loss of a moral conscience. People have had to pay for his advancement, including those nearest to him. The downfall is equally painful: either imprisonment or the easy wasy out are offered as the alternatives.
Novel
A young farm boy spends his days dreaming and making totem-pole like sculptures out of wood. His brother is a go-getter: studies agricultural engineering, comes back with diploma to marry the pretty girl next door. The dreamer graces puts his sculptures around, invoking anger of his father and ridicule of the peasants who find him useless. During the brother's wedding he sets his totems ablaze. He makes a pass at his new sister-in-law, but returns to his own reveries. In the end he hears a call to bring a log out of the marshes, but during the escapade sinks into the bog.
