"Time is the school in which we learn,
Time is the fire in which we burn."
The protagonist, like all people, is subject to the boundaries of time. He may be allowed to witness his parents in the past, but he is not allowed to change the past because time only progresses forward. He must learn from the past in order to earn himself a better future than his parents.
"In this our life there are no beginnings but only departures entitled beginnings, wreathed in the formal emotions thought to be appropriate and often forced. Darkly rises each moment from the life which has been lived and which does not die, for each event lives in the heavy head forever, waiting to renew itself."
The protagonist of this story is having a profound encounter with fate. He realizes the entrapment which life uses to make each person subject to their own whims. For responding to life with the expected response but not the sincere one, a person is forced to live with the consequences of a life squandered in insincerity.
"What was the freedom to which the adult human being rose in the morning, if each act was held back or inspired by the overpowering ghost of a little child?"
The protagonist recognizes that his parents have sacrificed everything for their children. Although the kid may not remain beside them every moment, they constantly are forced to make their decision in respect to this kid's needs. In this sense, the freedom of adulthood becomes compulsion and illusion, as these parents are no longer their own masters but the subjects of the needs of their children.
