Another theme in the book is power. Although Marc Rich could blame no one other than himself for his own fate, the world he entered as a young college dropout was not an ideal one for a person with a brilliant mind and no moral or ethical compass. Marc Rich had never been challenged before, never been made to feel responsible or accountable to anyone or anything. Rich came into metals trading from his short semester at college, a bored and untried young man. The opportunity to become a metals market trader was laid at his feet. He surely had no idea what he was getting into—it had to be better than school.