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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
The Cyclical Nature of Life
In Tom Lake, the theme of repeating emotional cycles occurs in every chapter, emerging through the characters' relationships and the way they navigate loss and regret. Lara finds herself repeating the same negative patterns she’s previously lived through over and over again. She experiences infidelity and also commits it. She is hurt by being told partial truths, and then chooses to tell lies of omission herself. Even if they think they have moved on, Tom Lake seems to suggest that people can’t help but relive the emotional experiences they’ve already had. As she tells her story, Lara’s reflections on her daughters also reveal these repeating cycles. However much as she wants to help them avoid pain and trauma, Emily, Maisie, and Nell experience the same kinds of grief and longing that Lara once faced at their age. There’s a sense of inevitability around how feelings and responses pass down through generations, as the characters find themselves caught in familiar patterns even without any knowledge of similar past events. Duke is caught in the relentless cycles of addiction and self-loathing which eventually spell his downfall. All of the members of the Tom Lake theater troupe cycle through the same events day after day as they perform their plays. The cyclical nature of life is also clearly present in the form of the everyday workings of the fruit farm, which relies on the natural revolutions of growth and decay to function. Not all cycles are negative—some, like the cherry harvest, are actually positive—but most are absolutely inevitable.
Moral and Ethical Responsibility
Throughout the novel, Lara and her companions consider how their relationship to their responsibilities impacts their careers and family. As a mother, Lara shoulders the emotional and practical duties of raising her daughters. She understands that her actions and decisions shape their futures, and tries to behave in a way that sets an example for Emily, Nell, and Maisie. This responsibility weighs heavily on her as she tells the story of Duke to her children. Although she wants to model honesty and maturity for her daughters, she also knows that she wouldn’t make some of the choices she made again if given a second chance. She also feels guilty and responsible for some of the negative outcomes of relationships in her life. She partially blames herself for Peter Duke’s miserable end, and she worries that her choices could influence how her daughters view her and treat their own relationships. She leaves out some of the more painful and salacious details of her life, so as not to shield her impressionable daughters from those irresponsible moments. In her marriage to Joe, Lara navigates the balance between personal desires and the responsibility to her family. Her mature, consistent choice to be a good wife to Joe shows how accepting responsibility has pulled her away from selfish impulses toward more considered choices. Peter Duke, in contrast, avoids all responsibility, choosing a life of fame and indulgence over commitment and lasting relationships. He deflects responsibility onto the other people in his life, forcing his brother Sebastian into caring for him and executing his wishes, even after he dies.
The Uneven Rewards of Parenthood
Being a parent isn’t always smooth sailing, as becomes clear when Lara starts to grow tired of her daughters’ endless, probing questions about Peter Duke. Lara loves her daughters and has a close relationship with each of them. However, she also has individual gripes with each of her children, and regularly experiences moments where she feels unappreciated or overwhelmed by how much her daughters seem to want from her. While Lara enjoys lots of moments of honest and loving connection, she also faces the emotional distance and sometimes hostility that her stories provoke in her daughters. Lara feels that telling her children about her life is a gift rather than an obligation when she begins the story, but quickly realizes that her daughters feel entitled to know all the details of her past, leaving nothing private. Moments like this make Lara feel resentment and frustration that she has no outlet to express. She feels that she gives hugely and doesn’t get as much in return, even to the point where she feels like her daughters want to physically eat her body. She loves Emily, Maisie, and Nell, but also wants to be loved by them and is hurt when she doesn’t feel they make an effort. Parenthood in Tom Lake is not a source of constant gratification. Instead, it involves waiting for small, often unexpected rewards amidst the daily work of nurturing and raising children into adults, while accepting that the emotional return may not always match the effort or sacrifice made on a parents’ part.
