Daytripper

The most prominent theme is Daytripper is love: familial, romantic, and platonic love. Moon and Ba open the story with the obituaries of an artist who had been in love 274 times, a retired soccer player who told his wife, "I think I'm going to sleep in late, dear," and a foreign ambassador. The artist never actually found his love, Lola, but was a "devoted father--never putting a thing before the adoration and care of his children." The soccer player loved his game, his family and his wife, Adelaide; he, too, was a "dedicated family man, never missed a family occasion because of a match." The ambassador loved his country, the people, and his family; "he never forgot his son's---[birthday]." The introduction of these characters and their strong familial love emphasizes the relationship, or lack-thereof, between Bras and his father, who always forgot Bras' birthday. Bras' father, the great writer Benedito de Oliva Domingos, instilled in his son his own romantic heart. He told Bras the love story of he and Bras' mother:
Son...I love your mother very much, but you know how she can drive me crazy...but you know what I think of every time I look at her? I remember when we first met. I told her I wanted to be a writer and that I knew a great romance was waiting for me to write it. She smiled and said that she hoped a great romance was waiting for me to live it. Life is made of these moments, son. Relationships are based on such moments, such choices, such actions...and thats the one momemnt I will carry with me after all others fade--the one which makes all the others worthwhile. You should look for such moments in life, son. Moments you'll never forget.
This theme of love, even dysfunctional love between Bras and his father, is carried throughout the text. Though everything else changes throughout the different stages of his life Bras' dog, Dante, his best friend, Jorge, his wife, Ana, and his parents are present and active in Bras' life. These relationships are the ones that mean the most to Bras and who help mold him into the man he will become by the final chapter. Each chapter ends with Bras' love for those people in his life. Bras' life was committed to his love for those people.