Accomplice Short Story Theme

Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, without known intention, creates an overlapping theme in both short stories “Likes” and “Accomplice” dealing with parent to child relationships which also connect the characters in the story. In “Likes,” Bynum tells the story of Dave, an apprehensive father and husband, and his relationship with his daughter Ivy. He is unable to understand the reason why his daughter speaks mainly to her physical therapist or through social media posts. He wonders why she switches moods consistently, or why she desires to engage on her phone rather than in a conversation. The rare times that Ivy chooses to talk to her dad are when she vents about not having friends, but that only makes her dad wonder why she is one Ivy but expresses herself …show more content…
However, having not grown up with a cellphone, he remains reluctant to the fact that Ivy disguises herself behind the cliches of the internet. At the end of the story, Ivy’s father is finally able to see the true Ivy and the Ivy he is wanting others to see (Bynum, “Likes” 1-18). On the other hand, another short story written by Bynum, “Accomplice” is the story of Ms. Hempel, her seventh grade class and the significant relationships with their parents. Ms. Hempel is mainly known for writing specific anecdotals, “... loving and detailed accounts of a student’s progress…” However, hers are personally detailed and very long. In this story, she presents her class with a controversial book that opens the eyes of the children and their parents. Not only does the book bring back memories about Ms. Hempel’s father and her childhood, but it also allows the students to show off their full capacity when writing their own anecdotals (Bynum, “Accomplice” 23-40). Both short stories are mostly populated with literary devices such as imagery and the presence of symbolism which not only allows the reader to envision the story in their mind but presents the stories as nostalgic with an optimistic