Love
David and Mary Anne Parkin must rekindle the love that lead to their marriage. Mary Anne loves her husband but feels that her marriage is loveless due to her husband’s inability to deal with the feelings of their daughter’s death. They must separate for David to realize what he has lost. He searches for his mother to find out why his mother abandoned him. He wants to know why she could not love him. By learning about his mother, David learns that he must put aside his guilt so that he can love again and work to salvage his marriage. He will do anything for the love of Mary Anne.
Abandonment
Abandonment is suffered by many. David’s mother abandoned him when he was young, which leads him to believe that he is not worth loving. This feeling returns when Mary Anne leaves him. It makes him go in search of his mother to find out why she left him and his father. He feels that it will help him understand why everyone keeps abandoning him. His search for his mother makes David realize that he had abandoned Mary Anne by secluding himself in his guilt over the death of his daughter. He must forgive himself and let the death of his daughter go to save his marriage.
Depression
David suffers from depression on the death of his daughter. This leads him to close himself off from his wife. This depression worsens when Mary Anne leaves him due to the lack of intimacy in her marriage. When he goes in search of his mother, he learns that he must go of his guilt that feeds his depression in order to find happiness again with Mary Anne.
Prejudice
The era is rampant with prejudice as the people struggle to feed their families and see the African Americans with employment and money to feed their families as the enemy. They focus their anger and helplessness on the African Americans because it gives them something to blame for their despair. This leads to lynching innocent men for the color of his skin. David refuses to fire the African Americans in his employment just because of the color of their skin. He fights against prejudice not for the African Americans, but his race who are so engulfed with anger that will be their undoing.
Poverty
Poverty is rampant during the depression. It leads people to desperation and acts of violence in order to feed their family. Many are without work and must stand in bread lines to get food for their families. The time is hard for many and leads people to blame innocent people for their destitution. People are led to attack bakery trucks and rob to find ways to feed their families. Poverty leads people to be seen as less than human for acting on the primal in order to survive.
