Motherhood and depression
The problem of motherhood comes up again and again in these short stories, because each woman is answering a perplexing problem in regard to their role as a mother. The actress in "Willing," finds she has not developed enough character to be eligible for loving relationships yet. She'll never be a mother. The couple in the Peed Onk ("People Like That") are dealing with the likely death of their child, and in "Terrific Mother," a would-be mother learns the hard way that she doesn't have what it takes. In fact, she allows a baby to die. Notice how each of these scenarios also deal with depression. That's not a mistake. If life is suffering, than women as live-givers must know more suffering in an intimate personal way.
Community and mental health
The question of suicidal depression is raised by the despair of the characters in the stories. One couple finds a community of loving, supporting people who can relate to the challenges of losing a child, because they're all facing the same problem together. However those who suffer alone must often suffer without hope. Therefore, it's important to establish true communion with a community in order to fare the challenges of this cruel life.
Hope in the form of love
Undeniably, love is the answer offered by this collection, and that happens in the love of the teacher of tries to figure out a way to include the kid with cystic fibrosis into the dance. The couple find that the death of their child can be suffered in community with others who understand that pain. They don't have to do it alone.
