Luck
The overarching theme of the story is one of luck. The old man insists on making Duckie understand just how grateful he should be for the life he has. He compares and contrasts Duckie’s life to that of other characters, such as Ali Sard, to show how different his life could be. Ali Sard is a boy of similar age but with a very different life to Duckie. Instead of spending his days listening to stories, he works and puts his life at risk in order to earn a living.
Wisdom
The older man takes on a parental role to Duckie throughout the book. It is not specified whether Duckie even has any parents, but this does not seem to matter because he has the Old Man. Perhaps Seuss used the figure of the Old Man as a metaphor for God – for he is very wise and teaches Duckie to be grateful for the things he has that others do not.
Loneliness
This theme is shown most starkly by the empty pages of the book. Seuss has some of the pages filled with vibrant colors and characters, and other pages of darker colors with hardly any images on them. The character of Gucky Gown is shown to live in desolation in the rundown Ruins of Ronk. He has no one to keep him company and is therefore branded as being “unlucky” by the Old Man.
