Regret
Regret—a feeling of repentance, sadness, or disappointment over something that has happened—is a major theme in The Kid. The film opens with The Woman abandoning her child, even though she would much rather take care of him if she could afford to. Then, not long after abandoning him, she goes back to where she left him, regretting her decision. In the years that follow, she makes a great deal of money as a performer and starts volunteering to help poor communities to make amends for her abandonment of her son. In this we see that The Woman is plagued with regret about her decision to relinquish custody of The Kid.
Poverty
The theme of poverty is at the heart of The Kid. At the start, The Woman cannot take care of her child after giving birth out of wedlock with a father who makes no money and refuses to help support her and the child. Her devastating decision to give up the child directly results from her impoverished position. When The Tramp adopts The Kid, he too lives in poverty, but they live happily in their dilapidated garret, earning money from committing petty crimes in the neighborhood. Chaplin presents two sides to poverty, one that compels an unwed mother to give up her child in the hope that he will have a better life, and another that shows poverty to be a delightful if precarious state of being, an almost suspended position in society in which one is always gaming the system and eluding the authorities.
Sacrifice
The Tramp just happens upon The Kid in an alley and doesn't desire to take the child home, but eventually does. The Tramp doesn't have to do this, but he is determined to raise the child as his own. He sacrifices his own personal desires and comfort in order to ensure that the kid has the opportunity to live well, no matter how great his circumstances are. Likewise, The Woman gives up the child hoping he will have a better life being raised by someone else. In this way, she is making a certain kind of sacrifice, in that she is giving up the privilege of raising her own child so that he might have a better chance in the world.
Escape
As in any Charlie Chaplin film, a great deal of the plot of The Kid revolves around the rubbery physical comedy of the director and star, Chaplin, as he wriggles free from various compromising positions. These escapes are near constant and are always humorous, a natural consequence of The Tramp's endearing fecklessness. He must escape from the cops, he must elude the representatives from the orphanage, he must avoid getting beaten up by a big thug, and he must elude the man who runs the flophouse. These are his many escape routines, and they are always played for laughs. Thematically, these escapes represent The Tramp's marginal position in society—his inability to integrate himself with civilized society, his quality of always messing up in some way and always getting himself into trouble.
The Importance of Family
While it is not explicit or by any means traditionally depicted, family is a thematic centerpiece of the film, particularly the unique relationship that The Tramp and The Kid strike up. They live in a cockeyed domestic bliss, committing crimes together and making do with the very little that they have. Their home life, while lacking in resources, is portrayed as charming and, in some ways, emotionally idyllic. There is a symbiosis between the two of them, the unlikely father and his unusually precocious ward. Chaplin's representation of family, of the bond that can grow between two people who are not related by blood and who are very different ages, is part of what has made the film such an enduringly compelling and moving piece of cinema. The conclusion of the film is a continuation of this loving familial bond, as The Tramp and The Kid both go to live with The Woman in her mansion.
Mischief
Similar to the theme of escape, mischief also plays a central role in the film. The Tramp often gets into trouble accidentally, but his primary way of moving through the world is by committing crimes and sowing mischief wherever he goes. This is his flaw, the thing that most often brings him into such close contact with danger, yet we the viewer never want The Tramp to change his ways, as his tendency to step into danger is what makes him entertaining. Mischief and failure are entangled with humor in the film, and are thus positioned as liberating ways of being. Chaplin presents doing "wrong" or failing as ways of evading the pressures of society, or as the ultimate form of freedom.
Sentiment
Another of the major themes in The Kid is sentiment, which Chaplin wanted to combine with his trademark slapstick humor. Defined as exaggerated feelings of nostalgia, sadness or tenderness, sentiment is depicted in the film from its very beginning. Rather than beginning the movie with comedy, Chaplin starts with the melodramatic scenes of The Woman regretfully abandoning her son to give him a life she does not believe she can provide. While Chaplin's first scene as The Tramp relies on his classic slapstick physical comedy, sentiment arises when he finds the note The Woman left with her son. His attitude toward the boy shifts as his heart melts with feelings of tenderness toward the foundling. Chaplin further develops the theme of sentiment when the child welfare authority removes John from The Tramp's home, leading to their tearful reunion on the flatbed of a truck. Ultimately, heartfelt instances of sentiment are a humanizing counterbalance to the film's absurd comedic moments, providing the viewer with a film that is both tender and funny.
