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Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in About a Boy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Chosen Family
Coming of Age and Maturity
Alienation and Mental Illness
Identity, Pop Culture, and Fitting In
Summary
Analysis
After his breakup with Angie, Will finds it more difficult than he anticipated to meet other beautiful single mothers. One day, it occurs to him that a single parents’ group might be a great place to meet women, so he joins one called SPAT (Single Parents – Alone Together). To blend in and disguise his real intentions, he invents a fictional two-year-old son named Ned. At his first meeting, held in a “depressing” local adult education center, Will arrives before all the single parents, who, he learns, usually show up late because they’re waiting on their babysitters. He briefly wonders if this slight faux pas has given away his lie, but he continues on with it anyway.
Will’s casually deceitful nature is intensified when he creates his fictional son, Ned, to meet single mothers in the SPAT group. The setting of the adult education center adds a certain layer of irony to Will’s shallow pursuits—perhaps pointing to his impending journey of personal improvement—as it contrasts with the earnestness of the single parents he aims to exploit. His brief concern that he might have been exposed hints at a conscience, but his choice to proceed anyway only furthers his commitment to his deception.
Themes
As the single mothers in the SPAT group trickle in, Will identifies one woman in particular, Suzie, whom he finds especially attractive. They start talking, and she quickly informs him about all of the group’s members and how, to the best of her knowledge, they became single parents. Will, the only man in the room, notices a recurring theme in their stories: men abandoning their female partners. In a feeble attempt to balance the narrative, Will portrays his fictional ex-wife as a deadbeat mum, casting himself as a dutiful, adoring, full-time father. Proud of his performance, he privately rationalizes his lie by remembering there is “an emotional truth [there] somewhere,” a “noble” dimension to this seemingly shallow charade.
Will’s instant attraction to Suzie and their ensuing conversation reveal his opportunistic mindset. The recurring theme of abandonment in the stories shared by the group members starkly contrasts with Will’s fabricated narrative, highlighting his disregard for their struggles. By falsely portraying himself as a devoted single father, Will deepens his deception and unfairly manipulates others’ perceptions. His rationalization of his actions by citing an “emotional truth” illustrates his moral flexibility as well as his capacity to deceive himself.
Themes
