In this story, the main character is a boy, who lives near a man everyone calls Uncle Willy. Uncle Willy is an eccentric man who runs a shop and gives out free ice cream to the children. He is also addicted to dope, an addictive drug. Some other people intervene with his drug addiction, and he runs away with the main character. One of the themes in this story is to think before you act.
One reason a theme is to think before you act is because the main character impulsively ran away with Uncle Willy. He didn’t prepare, or even say goodbye to the townspeople. He disregarded the consequences of running away with a strange man he didn’t know very well. He got caught up in the heat of the moment and didn’t step back and think about what he was about to do. His life at home wasn’t even that bad either, he just acted without thinking.
Another reason a theme in this story is to think before you act is because Uncle Willy changed negatively. He didn’t think before he took drugs, and he became addicted to them. Even though he had a reason to live the town, he didn’t have a good reason to bring the main character with him. He could have not told the main character he was leaving, and left by himself. He didn’t stop to think about how running away could affect the main character’s life.
The last reason a theme in this story is to think before you act is because the townspeople took away Uncle Willy’s drugs too abruptly. Even though they did it with good intentions, Uncle Willy had a withdrawal, and got really sick. The townspeople fixed one of Uncle Willy’s problems, but caused another one. This was probably a reason he left the town, which indirectly affected the main character.