In the novel " The Other Side of Truth" there are several themes, however one of the most important themes is the theme of truth. Both Sade's mother and father believe that telling the truth is very important. Although Folarin believes telling the truth is good, this brought him harsh consequences, the death of Mrs.Solaja, and it separated him from his children. Even Sade and Femi believe in the truth, but end up lying to a lot of people.
To begin with Folarin was one of the few journalists in Nigeria who wrote the truth. He believed that, "the truth is the truth. How can I write what's untrue." Even their mother believed that saying the truth was important, ' truth keeps hands cleaner than soap" and "tell a lie play with fire but don't complain of the smoke". The lies and threats began when Folarin wrote about the university's massacre and the killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa, and then decided to write an article called "our children's Future". The government were angry at Folarin so they tried to shoot him, however his wife; the children mother, was shot instead of Folrian. This gave Sade an impression that sometimes telling the truth is not always the right thing to do. Theios shows Naidoo is trying to show the lesson that one must tell the truth at all costs. Sometimes the cost seems terribly high, but in the end telling the truth makes life easier event though it may be hard in the short term it works out best in the long term. Telling the truth has cost Sade’s mother her life, but, on the other hand, it means that the children remained untraceable for longer than is necessary and for their father it means that he is unable to find his children, with the result that they all suffer longer than is absolutely necessary. This also shows that sometimes fear can force people to hide the truth: Fear is like the early morning mist in the forest. You can lose sight of the truth in the