Common Theme

From story to story, I picked up on one very obvious reoccurring theme. That theme is being self-centered. In each novel, one of the main characters acts on a selfish impulse, and it always ends up hurting another character. In The Life You Save May Be Your Own, Mr. Shiftlet sees an opportunity to gain himself a car. In the process, though, he hurts both Mrs. Lucynell and her daughter. Likewise, in Rules of the Game, Meimei's mother tries to use her daughter to raise her social status. When Meimei confronted her about this, Meimei's mother became angry and Meimei was obviously hurt that her mother would simply use her daughter's talents for her own gain. Like in Rules of the Game, in Book of the Dead a parent hurts their child. However, in this case it is a father hurting his daughter. He did this in two ways. One, he had lied to her about his past. Secondly, he destroyed something she had created. Lastly, in Teenage Wasteland, Donny hurt his mother by doing several things. He did not trust his parents, he did not try and school, and above all else, he ran away. This theme seemed the most obvious to me, probably because I really do not like it when people act solely for themselves.