Son Themes

Son follows Claire, a Birthmother in a dystopian community whose first birth goes horribly: Claire’s son is ultimately delivered by emergency C-section. As with all births in the settlement, her son—the Product, who’s later named Gabe—is taken immediately from the blindfolded Claire to ultimately be given to a couple in the community to raise, while Claire is never allowed to see, hold, or know her baby. Traumatized by the experience and overwhelmed with…

In Son, various characters travel great distances, both physically and emotionally. Travel, and finding a place to call home, is something the novel suggests allows a person to find happiness—and perhaps more importantly, to pinpoint exactly what they value. For instance, as Claire gradually becomes aware of how boring, cruel, and detached her and Gabe’s original community is, she discovers what she values more than anything: her love for her son, an emotion…

Son presents two unique coming-of-age stories, as both Claire and Gabe’s process of maturing has to do with the way they piece together their family history and connections. Whereas other coming-of-age stories might simply concern themselves with the mere fact that everyone gets older over time, Claire and Gabe’s stories are directly tied to the fact that they come from a settlement that experiences no conflict, emotions, choice, or—importantly—biological family connections. In Son…

In the communities Claire and Gabe live in throughout Son, they experience three different ideas of what it means to be a good, involved community member and work for the common good. While their first community is framed as a cruel dystopia, and while the latter two still experience their fair share of pain and heartbreak, the novel nevertheless suggests that what makes a community strong is people’s willingness to make sacrifices for the…