Children tragedies
There are several stories that face the question of tragic fates befalling children. The motif serves to accentuate the basic question of the collection, the problem of human suffering.
The archetypal spinster
In "Willing," the question is whether the character is willing to change from her past of self-glorification and attention-seeking. She says yes, but then she fails to demonstrate love. So she will stay lonely forever. She will become the archetypal lonely old lady. This is a kind of "Birth of the Anti-Mother."
Hopelessness
The question of hope is raised in every story as a focal issue. The actress loses hope because she fails to take responsibility for herself, and therefore removes the likelihood of a better future. A dance teacher is perplexed by a child forbidden to dance by his cystic fibrosis. A moody professor strikes out with three failed affairs.
The most clear pictures of hope and hopelessness come in community around the death of children. In "People Like That Are The Only People Here," the young scared couple finds a vibrant thriving community in the hospital where children are dying. They experience transcendent peace and joy because everyone in the community is dedicated to optimism and because everyone in Peed Onk gives love freely and often. However in the "Terrific Mother" story, she feels shamed, so she isolates herself, and falls into deep, unrelenting despair. The question of hope seems to be attached to self-forgiveness.
The motif of motherhood
The stories start with an actress who wished she'd have picked the domestic life. It ends with a woman dabbling in the domestic arts herself, but when she goes to her first babysitting gig, the child dies. In "People Like That," there is an entire community of mothers and fathers. The question of the generation of life is being raised through this motif, because it's a fundamental aspect of hope.
Existential despair
Another unfriendly motif is in the collection, the question of existential despair and suicide. The question is faced head on by each character, from the parent of a dying child, the accidental murderer of someone else's child, to the woman so far gone from the life she really wanted that she knows deep down she'll never be a mother. The question of suicidal depression is also a feature of Lorrie Moore's other stories.
