What is the theme in Gold Boy, Emerald Girl: Stories by Yiyun Li?

Many of the stories in this collection share the theme of love. Love first makes an appearance in Kindness as Moyan struggles to find love from her parents, her friends, and a lover. However, Moyan often finds herself lacking in whatever it takes to make people love her. In the end, Moyan rejects love and decides she is better off without it, only to look back on her life and all the people who touched it with sadness. Love again appears as a theme in Prison. Yilan has lost her daughter and is heartbroken over the loss. This loss drives her to search for a way to have another baby. Yilan soon finds herself taken prisoner by the woman she has chosen to give her a child to replace the one she lost. It is love for her daughter and love for her unborn infants that causes her to become a prisoner to this woman.