 Voss' 2008 article explained that Ende's book was not the "escapist literature" of pure fantasy, as had always been assumed, in part from Ende's own frequent warnings about hiding messages in books.Voss identified numerous literary references in the book, some which reverse the Nazi indoctrination of Ende's youth and others, which stem from his interest in Darwin and draw on English culture and history.Darwin's first book, "The Voyage of the Beagle", contains passages about Jemmy Button, a teenaged native Fuegian who was sold for a mother-of-pearl button and brought to England, an island nation.