5) Theme: The statement about life the story tries to portray.
The theme “What Happened to Cass McBride,” portrays is, words can hurt somebody more than one may think possible. In the story David Kirby, a junior committed suicide by hanging himself to the tree of his front lawn. Pinned to a piece of body fat were his last thoughts. The note said “Words are teeth. And they eat me alive. Feed on my corpse instead.” These words were left for his mother, who constantly put him down and never loved him for who he was. David’s mother followed him around to constantly make fun of his clothes, his physique, how he never had a date. She would say he was “gay,” that he was “dumb” because his grades were in the dumps, yet she never gave him quiet timed to study. She was always over his shoulder’s reminding him of his every imperfection. How he was just like his father a failure, who gave up on everything. David’s mother did not love him. She believed he was the reason for why her husband did not become a doctor. She blamed David for not living the luxury life of a doctor’s wife she aspired since high school. She was full of anger cruelness, and made it her job to pour it all on David. A mistake she could not avoid but could eventually help kill.
