The characters in Groff’s nine short stories repeatedly find themselves caught between pursuing their own needs and longings or sacrificing their desires to satisfy a perceived moral obligation. Most often, the female characters are the ones who find themselves most beholden to others—expected to uphold the common good at the expense of their personal inclinations. When the women follow their hearts by casting off their social or familial duties, they are either shamed, violated, or weighed by lifelong guilt. From a feminist standpoint, such narrative recursions underscore how societal and gender norms oppress women and limit their abilities to determine their own fates.

The stories “The Wind,” “Between the Shadow and the Soul,” “To Sunland,” “Brawler,” and “Birdie” satisfy this ideological exploration. In “The Wind,” the narrator’s mom, Michelle, lives with a lifelong darkness, originating in her childhood. Although she and her brothers escaped their abusive father, this is the “happier version, but behind her words [the narrator] see[s] the true story” (17), where Ruby is yanked out of the car “by the hair and dragged backward” (17) by her abusive husband, never escaping his violence. Michelle is weighed by this history because although she satisfied her desire to escape and built a happy life for herself untouched by violence, she failed her perceived responsibility to save her mother.

In “Between the Shadow and the Soul,” Eliza gives in to her perceived moral responsibility to her husband Willie despite her longing for freedom, exploration, and a meaningful, adventurous life even in late middle-age. She quashes this more vibrant aspect of herself for the sake of satisfying her husband’s needs. In “To Sunland,” Joanie has grown up understanding that her mother only had her so there would be someone to care for Buddy in the years to come. When she decides to leave him at Sunland and pursue college in Maine, she is weighed by guilt and shame—terrified that pursuing her desires is evidence of her moral depravity. In “Brawler,” Sara Brawler is similarly trapped by her obligation to her ailing mother, who is incapable of managing her mental illness. A young, lithe, and self-possessed young woman, Sara cannot pursue her own life because she feels responsible for her mom. In “Birdie,” Nic silences her own desires, personal history, and hurts to appease her friends. She feels obligated to satisfy their expectations or to prove that she is a good and happy person as a way to escape their historical judgment of her.

In a story like “What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?,” Groff nuances this discussion within the context of the privileged male protagonist Chip’s story. As Chip has no real desires or responsibilities, he ends up simultaneously immobilized and violent. He is the newt floating in the stagnant pond at the start of the story, allowing his circumstances to pull or push him along without ever exercising agency or asserting his desires or beliefs. The absence of the conflict between desire and duty in turn leads to death—implying that wrestling with complex moral and personal questions is an essential facet of human survival.