It is clear that the theme is loneliness because of all the evidence that supports the idea that Li-Young feels lonely without his father to watch over him. The beginning of the second verse states that “once, years ago, I walked beside my father among the unexpectedly fallen pears.” (8-9). This phrase illustrates a photogenic memory of when the speaker and his father walked together along the pear trees. There is nothing unique or special about this moment, but it was a moment where the speaker truly felt the closeness he had with him. Li-Young compares his father to a cardinal: "I turn around. A cardinal disappears" (5). He further recalls his father's death. The period that divides the line creates an abrupt turn of events for the son. The bird represents affection and love and suggests that Li-Young's father died unexpectedly. This dramatic change in events showed the son how the love he had received from his father had disappeared from his life forever. Li-Young retains memories like these described throughout the poem, even though they are memories that remind him that he is alone now. The speaker makes it clear in the third stanza that he is talking about his father's death. He sees his dead father waving at him near the trees and this imagination quickly disappears. The last stanza illustrates a dinner of peas, rice and shrimp. Li-Young is drowning in his own pool of loneliness and learns a lot about himself by eating alone. Sharing meals with family is a common practice and eating alone is seen as “socially awkward”. A common assumption that many people make about those who eat alone is that they themselves are unhappy and lonely, and this is certainly the case for Li-Young as she dearly loves and misses her last child.