Class Consciousness and Privilege
The narrator of this story comes from a family of economic privilege and social status. His parents are notably snobbish toward members of the lower classes and exert a strong sense of social superiority which they try to instill in their child. The stratification of status is highlighted by the divergent manners in which the parents treat the outbreak of conjunctivitis—which is referred to as “Apollo”—in the household. They blame the houseboy for infecting their son. The Apollo condition becomes a metaphor for the infection of class consciousness and awareness on the part of the houseboy against which the boy's parents try desperately to quarantine him.
Betrayal
Acts of betrayal occur throughout the story and are presented in various ways. The narrator betrays his parents’ orders to stay away from the houseboy who has introduced the Apollo into the home. The narrator assumes that the houseboy has betrayed his affection for him by flirting with a neighbor girl. In response to this perception, the narrator then betrays the houseboy by falsely accusing him of having pushed him down the stairs. This lie results in his being fired from his position by the narrator’s parents. The theme of betrayal lingers over the entire story on a larger scale than these individual examples. Ultimately, the story is accusatory toward the upper classes for betraying their responsibility to use their privilege to assist those who are needier.
Forbidden Love
Although not presented explicitly, the story is also one that examines themes related to forbidden love. The narrator’s relationship with the new houseboy implicates his feelings as being an expression of repressed romantic desire. This desire is doubly complicated by the reality that they are both male and that the houseboy is of a lower social status. Either complication would be enough to prohibit parental acceptance of the relationship. Both complications taken together make it a certainty that nothing can ever be expected to come of this romantic urge. Further complicating things is that the narrator discovers the houseboy flirting with a girl. The theme of forbidden love is focused most specifically on the fact that cultural conditioning creates obstacles that doom such relationships from the start before they even have the chance to develop organically.
