A very obvious theme in this short story “Tobias” is of course unemployment, but I think that a more important theme is the feeling of impuissance. The way Tobias seems to be feeling that he is stuck in a situation he has no way of getting out of. He is, in his mind, powerless. He has stopped fighting. Given up. In a way he has decided to just roll over, play dead, and just let life knock him around. This is, to me, the key theme of the text.
Another theme is when love burns out. Tobias and Miriam seem to be stuck in a relationship not held together by love but simply by convenience. A break-up is both inconvenient and awkward and that is most likely the reason this couple has staid together for so long.
Tobias is a former high school history/Spanish teacher, bartender, and night clerk at a hotel. He is presently collecting unemployment insurance and lives with his girlfriend Miriam in her Michigan apartment.
He has lost his motivation and even though he has two master’s degrees he has completely stopped looking for a job. Most days he does not even leave the house. He spends his days in the apartment playing his guitar and eating potato chips.
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