The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Covered in sweat and desperation, the boy pulled back his aching arms and casted the reel, again. Under the huffing of his breath, one could hear his hushed swears. Glazed over eyes and blistered hands, made up what was left of him. His mind boggled at what could happen if he failed once more. His parched throat leads him to remembering his jug of water in the corner of the dinghy. Perhaps he could reach over and grab the water; however, he had his eyes set on the bait and just as he nearly glanced away, the bait jerked under the water. His eyes engulfed in tears as he reeled in his prize, a 6 pound ilish fish. Now he could drink his water in triumph and pride, one day further from famine. Many individuals struggle with reeling in fish to save themselves from hunger, but if they are determined to catch what they desire most, almost nothing can get in their way, even if their conditions are harder than others, like when the boy that was fishing had to conquer hunger or in The Lacuna. Accordingly, perseverance is essential in many situations, whether these situations seem easy to overcome, or not. Likewise, the best theme of The Lacuna is: it is imperative to use persistence in order to achieve one’s goals, due to the struggles Harrison Shepard has to overcome in order to surpass his obstacles, similar to the fishing boy.

In order to identify the best theme in any form of literature, one must first figure out what a theme is and how to identify a theme. Themes are the moral of the story, or other forms of literature. After a book is read to a child, many times adults will say “What is the story trying to teach you” or “the moral of this story is…” this is not different from being asked what the theme is of a certain piece of litera...

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...y. Words, though. Those are nice.” All of these newly-learned views and skills helped him later in life by putting him in the direction he was determined to follow. Not matter what way it is looked at, the main theme is based off of persistence and that leads to him achieving his goals.

Harrison Shepard goes through many struggles, but grows into an intelligent and successful individual. Had he given up on his life when times were tough he would not have been able to have as many accomplishments as he did. Based on this information, the main theme is persistence is imperative in order to achieve one’s goals, Harrison knew that in order to be successful; he had to just keep casting his line, until he finally reeled in his fish and conquered his own hunger for success.

Works Cited

Kingsolver, Barbara. The Lacuna: A Novel. New York; Ontario: Harper, 2009. Print.