Theme

The main theme in each of these short stories has to deal with the the relationships between families. Each and every one of them have their difficulties. Sometimes it was the child's fault for bad relationship, but other times it was the parents' faults. Sometimes it was even both of their faults. In Book of the Dead it was the father's fault for the relationship. Although it was not bad at the time, I'm sure after what he told his daughter there was not much of a relationship anymore. Now this is different in Teenage Wasteland. Donny, the son, made himself to hard to get along with. His parents tried their best to do what was best for Donny. He just didn't care about anything. The one fault that his parents did have was keeping him with his tutor for to long. Rules of the Game was a direct example of the parents being at fault. Waverly's mother pushed that child further than any child should be pushed. She made Waverly miss out on her childhood so that she could make her live up to her own dream. Last but not least is The Life you Save May be your Own. In this story it was harder to pick up, but it was still there. Lucynell's mother wanted to get rid of her so she didn't have to take care of her anymore. She pushed a shady man into marrying her so that she wouldn't have to deal with the stress. All I have to say is thank God I have a good relationship with my parents.