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The Themes Of The Story By Tobias Wolff

Decent Essays

The themes of the story include different concept such as criticism, egoism, life in general, etc. The way the author describes not only what Anders remembered before his death, but also every single things he did not remembered. Tobias Wolff enumerates the things Anders remembered and the things he did not remembered but should have remembered because he was supposed to be happy at these specific moments. “He did not remember when he began to regard the heap of books on his desk boredom and dread, or when he grew angry at writers for writing them. He did not remember when everything began to remind him of something else. This is what Anders remembered. Heat. A baseball field. Yellow grass, the whirr of insects, himself leaning against a tree as the boys of the neighborhood gather for a pickup game.” (Wolff, 76) By telling what he remembered, the author mentions two of the themes: the meaning of life and innocence. First, Anders has always wasted his life by looking every detail of others. He is always negative and critical and this is what draws him to his death. He never was happy and that moment of his youth is the only one that made him happy. Sometimes, it is not about doing right our job, earning money, being critical, or something else. Sometimes, the purpose of life is simply to be happy. / Second, the innocence of Anders at that baseball game gradually disappeared as he grew up and learned about all the negative aspects of our world. As he lost his

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