Preview of A Stone for Danny Fisher Summary:

The social issue of the effect of fate on the aspirations of the lower middle class and the reciprocal concern for the security of a home are important thematic motifs in the book, but from Danny's point of the view, the theme of his life is probably "Without a buck, you're nothin' but crap." Although the novel is autobiographical, for Robbins the theme of the book as a whole is not so simple, but it is perhaps summed up in this observation of Danny's: "Someone you know all your life tries to kick your teeth in, and a man you never saw before and will never see again comes along and saves your life." Logically enough the book ends with a hymn to the "ordinary man."