A theme that is covered in various stories is the theme that even if people appear happy on the outside, on the inside there is almost always some sorrow either hidden deep in their heart and soul or being shown to people of the world. There are many different types of sorrow shown or hidden in many different ways in multiple stories, and is sometimes overcome.
A Secret Sorrow is a story about a woman, Faye, who is sorrowful that she cannot have children. She hides this from her boyfriend Kai at first by telling him she loves him but cannot marry him, and has not "given a satisfactory reason and I'll {Kai} be damned if I'm going to accept your lack of explanations."" This sentence also shows that Kai has sorrow over Faye not marrying him. She is sorrowful also because she thinks that when she tells him that "you wouldn't want me anymore- and that "you'll be disappointed."" When she tells him she cannot have children "her voice was an agonized cry, torn from the depths of her misery."" They worked out the problem and got married and adopted children and she found that "there was love in his embrace and love in his words and in her heart there was no room now for doubt, no room for sorrow."" Faye and Kai overcome their sorrow to live wonderful lives.
In Class, Edgar has a different type of sorrow. He is unhappy with his life. At the beginning of the story, he is happy. He meets a woman named Susan who he thinks is "the tenth most attractive white woman in the room."" They are married and for the first year everything seems to be fine. He discoverers that she is having an affair after their first anniversary which upsets him which he shows by saying "personal pain should never be made public."" This shows that Edgar is hiding his pain and sorrow. He did get prostitutes whenever he went out of town on business. This shows that Edgar is sorrowful with his married and sex life because if he was not sorrowful about it, he would not get the prostitutes.
