What are the themes in the story "The Wife of My Youth"?

Theme refers to the moral or
lesson of a story.  You can look at it as the universal message or the lesson learned by
one or more characters.  In the story, one of the themes is that you can
never escape where you came from.

The story
is really about a group of African-Americans who try to use their light skin to get
ahead in a whites-dominant world.  Sadly, there is only so much they can accomplish
because they are limited by the prejudice against their race.  Mr. Ryder, for example,
is described as refined and having good tastes and sophisticated looks.  Yet even he is
haunted by his past, as he shows the group the wife he married when he was
young.

A prime example of how one’s past catches up is the
reappearance of Mr. Ryder’s wife; he thought she was dead, but she was
not.

And then
suppose that accident should bring to his knowledge the fact that the wife of his
youth…was alive and seeking him, but that he was absolutely safe from recognition or
discovery…

Just as Mr. Ryder
acknowledges his past, all of the members of the society will have to acknowledge
theirs, and the limitations of where they come from.