Themes

Ambition

The main theme of the short story “Legacy” by PR Woods is ambition. The events revolve around the main character’s ambition to return to her home country with her son, and to finally defeat her rival, Martina.

Jola Hobotnica is a Croatian living in England with her son, Rory. She does not enjoy being there and wants to go home but knows she cannot afford it. Therefore, she designs a plan that would help her win a lot of money for bringing the most funds to the charity organization she works for.

Jola is Manger of Legacies and Gifts in Wills, which means that the cheques she gets her clients to sign can only be cashed in if the clients die within the next six years. Therefore, Jola devises a plan that involves killing her clients with pufferfish venom at a fundraising event.

Throughout the entire story, Jola is shown to be ruthless and ambitious. She does not allow anything to stand between her and her plan, going as far as to use her own son to help her, exposing him to the risk of coming into contact with the venom. 

An important moment that shows the extent of Jola’s ruthlessness is when the woman next to Griliopoulos offers to lick the envelope for him. Although Griliopoulos was one of Jola’s most important ...