Themes

The main themes of the short story “After Caravaggio's Sacrifice of Isaac” by Rachel Cusk are love and parenthood. These themes are enhanced through motifs like art, choices, and sacrifice. The writer’s message with this text is that new paths in life are opened to people through revelations, but that each path we choose to take involves a choice and sacrificing the other paths.

Love

The theme of love is explored at different levels in the short story: parental unconditional love, love in romantic relationships, and the love of art.

In the story, the love between Alan and Sally falls apart after the birth of their son. This is because the two of them have different attitudes towards parenthood and their son. Sally becomes depressed after birth and she emotionally rejects her son, while Alan begins to identify with their son and view Sally as an outsider.

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Parenthood

The theme of parenthood is explored in the short story through the characters of Alan and Sally. When the two of them have their son, Ian, they have very different takes on parenthood.

The stress of the birth makes Sally reject her son in the first place. She does not want to hear him cry or to be near him. Later, with events like Ian’s circumcision, Sally comes across as pragmatic and down to earth. She does not believe that these events affect Ian or that he will recall them. However, she is focused on Ian’s development in the long run and realises that the boy needs to grow up with his father beside him.

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