Motherhood
Motherhood is depicted as an obligation in two separate ways. The first is the clear imagery of Rachel's emotionally complex relationship to her real mother. The other is the relationship she reports to her own life, her own desire for motherhood and marriage, and the pressing nature of her limited time. She cannot wait forever to start a family, and since she is already in her thirties, she needs to get going if she wants to have kids of her own. In both cases, motherhood is a dilemma that she struggles to solve.
The imagery of desperation
The heartache she feels when her fling with Nick ends is the call to responsibility. Nick doesn't allow himself to be trapped by the emotional needs and imbalances in Rachel's character, which inspires Rachel to think more critically about her own relationship to her mother. Why did she feel she needed Nick to save her in the first place? The relationship symbolizes her emotional desperation, because she dives deep, hoping Nick will need her back, and therefore save her. She should save herself instead, she learns.
Paranoia and community
Rachel feels paranoid by her experience of community, because she is interested in pleasing the people she grew up trying to impress. Her relationship to their opinion is burdensome, because although on the surface things look normal and perhaps even charming, her private experience is like doom. She feels paranoid that if she breaks the ties she feels to her community, she might falter or fail, or be consumed by shame. This is the real cage that binds her.
The portrait of freedom
When she decides to leave, she says yes to adventure. The failed relationship with Nick shows her that if she wants something to happen, she can't just wait around for thirty more years hoping the next passerby will save her. She decides to be free for once, and her decision to leave paints a picture of freedom that is more than literal. She decides not to feel ashamed to do what is best for herself. This self-love is the ultimate freedom that she had longed for all along.
