Cultural Exchange

At one point in The White Castle the young sultan makes a comment along the lines of "people are the same no matter where in the world they are fom". While on the surface this seems to be a rather played out or trite thing to say, it in fact may be some of the deepest advice/commentary that the book has to offer. This isn't to say that the book itself is shallow or trite but that instead it finds a way to enter into the reader's, or at least my, thoughts that reminds him or her of the genuine importance of this suggestion.
This also goes along with the purposeful confusion as to whether or not there is one main character. In fact, it is extremely interesting to see how two people from very different backgrounds might have so much in common with one another that their differing cultural identities cannot mask their similarities.