Envy
Envy is one of the main themes of the novel. We see envy epitomized in Cody, for whom it often serves as a driving force for his actions. Many of the decisions that Cody makes are specifically driven by his jealousy of his brother Ezra. Throughout the novel, Cody constantly teases and pokes fun at Ezra because he is envious of Ezra's personality. This culminates in him attempting to and successfully breaking up the union between Ezra and Ruth, and marrying Ruth not because of love but purely out of spite.
Familial Love
One of the themes that echoes throughout the novel is that of familial love, or the lack thereof. From the onset, we are faced with Beck's desertion of the family, already highlighting a lost sense of familial love. We also see how Ezra attempts to restore this lost familial love throughout the novel in his attempts to have the family have dinner together at his restaurant. Through the novel, we are also able to observe how a the lack of love in a family can also lead to broken family relationships.
Conflict
The events of the novel are plagued with conflict and it is a recurring theme that we see throughout the novel. In the numerous attempts that the Tulls make to have dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, their dinner is interrupted or disrupted by conflict. It is only at the end of the novel that the family is able to move past their disagreements and past conflicts to finally have dinner together.
Memory
The author primarily uses memory to show what the various Tull family members have gone through. Through the usage of perspective, the reader sees how memories differ from person to person and have differing effects on one’s psychological development. Beck is absent physically, but he is ever-present in the minds of the family he’s left behind. Beck in turn never forgets Pearl or the idea of impressing her. Jenny seeks to forget her childhood with distractions, while Pearl wallows in her memories of Beck. Cody hangs onto the past only through bad memories. Ezra appears to have amnesia, dwelling almost exclusively in his adult present and his nostalgic restaurant, visiting the past only through Pearl. At the end of the novel, Pearl and Beck exchange places, and Pearl becomes the absent one, living on in the family’s memory.
