Themes

The main themes of the short story “Your Shoes” by Michèle Roberts are innocence, control, the relationship between men and women and the defective communication between parents and children. All these themes are illustrated by the narrator and her parents, as well as the narrator and her husband and daughter.

Innocence

In the short story, this theme is explored in the contrast between mother and daughter. First of all, the narrator’s mother acted like “a bit of a tart” (p. 33, l. 2), yet she still wanted her daughter to be innocent and to marry a virgin.

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Control

This theme is illustrated by the narrator, who permanently feels the need of being in control. Initially, she controlled her daughter’s eating habits, which eventually probably led to her having an eating disorder. Then, she controlled the way curtains look and even the shoes the girl was to wear, with little regard to the girl’s wishes.

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Men and women

The differences between men and women are illustrated through the way in which the narrator thinks. For her, men and women are not equal.

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Defective communication between parents and children

Initially, this theme is illustrated by the narrator and her parents. As she grew up in a strict family, she came to both respect and fear her father, who used to become violent whenever she was disrespectful.

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