Back in the World is the second collection of short stories by Tobias Wolff. Similarly to his other work, this collection of short stories discusses themes of everyday life, transfers the audience into the stories and creates some form of bond with the protagonists. The overarching theme of all ten stories can be seen as conflict. However, this conflict is not really physical but mostly emotional and internal. This can be divided into two categories. An internal conflict with oneself and an emotional conflict with the outside world.
The first kind often has to do with some form of inability to be what one expects of oneself to be. For example, in "Our story begins" the main character has little interaction with anyone but himself and feels a strong urge to just give up on his dream. A similar conflict can be found in "Soldier's Joy", where a returning Veteran from Vietnam has trouble to reintegrate into a society that just seems alien to him. The story spins out of control and the soldier gets trapped in a pit of depression and further confusion.
The second kind is more common in the stories, and is characterized by a high degree of dramatic irony. The individual characters reveal information to the audience that is unknown to the other protagonists. This can be seen in "Coming Attractions", where a young girl is prank calling an older gentleman and distresses him with her sexual innuendo. Another example would be in "Say Yes", where a married couple has trouble to communicate with each other and do not understand each other's emotional needs.
Tobias Wolff's story collection has the overarching theme of miscommunication. Within the first kind of conflict the world fails to act in a way that fits the expectations of the individual. Within the second kind of conflict, the individual characters cause grieve to each other by not fully revealing their emotions and intentions. Like all Tobias Wolff stories, Back in the World has the immediate ability to pull the reader in and give them a personal connection to the characters, increasing the emotional impact of the stories on the audience.
