Satire and social criticism
Pompey is critiquing culture in this satirical, winding novel. Written with more attention to Pompey's inner thought life than her actual reality or circumstance, the novel focuses on Pompey's opinion. This makes her character into a kind of touchstone, going about various places and ideas to give her assessment of the justice and order of society. She touches on the disgusting nature of Nazi Germany, but not for nothing. She goes to "visit her friend Karl." The reader can safely assume the friend's name is an allusion to Karl Marx, and when she gets to Germany, in her opinion, a lot of their society is still damaged.
When she returns to London, she binds herself accidentally to Freddy by accepting his proposal. This means that her inner thought life ends up reflecting her feelings of being controlled or affected by men. These are all forms of social criticism, and of course, the comedic nature of her commentary makes the novel satirical in flavor.
Feminism and the plight of woman
There are many spoken and unspoken references to the plight of woman. The first comes through the relationship between Pompey and her admired aunt. Their kinship highlights what kind of women they are—they're not the obedient, submissive type. They don't like to be told what to do by men. Then there is the more abstract criticisms against the status quo, mentioning the mistreatment of women by religious organizations (especially Catholicism), by the government, and unfortunately by many, many thoughtless individuals.
Commitment and freedom
This theme is seen most clearly in the on-going dilemma Pompey endures when she accidentally accepts a proposal to someone she decided not to marry, just because of the stress of the moment and her fear of disappointing Freddy, since she does actually like him after all, and she knows that this rejection will be difficult. This leads to fear, because she knows she has to tell him the truth, but she must muster the resources. In the end though, she decides that regardless of anyone's expectations for her, she must be free and follow her convictions, so she tells him.
