Budget cuts
Unfortunately, budget cuts amount to a theme which affects everyone. The novel depicts two different spheres, the manufacturing industry and education, which are not interrelated, but suffer from and the same problem. Colleges are obliged to dismiss lecturers, cut hours, close campuses etc, trying not to lose a number of students. The manufacturing sphere has to work without gaining any profit, thus losing a chance of improving quality of products and working conditions. Being the representatives of aforementioned spheres, Victor and Robyn learn about difficulties of each other’s work and come to understanding that a financial crisis hits every sphere, making no exception.
Racism
Victor’s father is a person who constantly looks back in order to admire how wonderful things used to be in the past and how horribly everything turns out to be. Being an ordinary man, who believes everything he sees on the TV or reads in the newspapers, he blames immigrants, coloreds and blacks. This is a certain way to escape from the reality, for it is not a comforting thought that grandchildren of your friends, relatives and neighbors might be rapists, robbers and drug dealers. Here immigrants come in handy. Victor’s father doesn’t know anything about them that is why it is easier for him to imagine that it is their fault.
Education
Robyn may come to a conclusion that semiotics is not the most useful and helpful branch of linguistics and it is difficult to find an application for it in an everyday life, but there is no need to underestimate the power of education and literature. Were Victor more educated, his mind would be more flexible and it would be easier for him to build relationships with people. This is applied to other characters in the story. The characters also prove that one’s education doesn’t finish after a graduation ceremony. It is important to be able to learn during the whole duration of life.
A role of a woman
The author of the story portrays different women, including typical house-wives, businesswomen, escort girls, models, and feminists. Regardless of who they are, all of them have to deal with a problem of finding a place in life. For instance, Robyn has to repeat over and over again that she can’t imagine her life without work, because the majority of people think that it is a sort of an entertainment before getting married. When Robyn’s student says her that she is going to be a lingerie model, Robyn can’t help but judge her. When Victor’s daughter says that she wants to be a hairstylist, he is not happy about it all. The role of a woman, as well as a man, is a personal question, which should be respected as the characters of the story try to do.
