Shades

Summary

"Shades" is a story that begins with the explanation of darkness taking over the light, or it could be better described as the transition from day to night. Bolesław Prus describes the darkness as always being present but often hidden of secluded. Here are a few themes that I have identified:

the notion of a savior
pessimism/optimism
good vs. evil
ID vs. Ego
the unknown or the unpredictable

And here are a few definitions by way of the wikipedia article/s:
Wikipedia(Shades)

"The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning "breath" (compare spiritus asper), but also "soul, courage, vigor", ultimately from a PIE root *(s)peis- ("to blow").

"A lamplighter, historically, was an employee of a town who lit gas street lights, generally by means of a wick on a long pole. At dawn, he would return and turn them off using a small hook on the same pole. From time to time, he would come along with a ladder and renew the mantles. In some communities, lamplighters served in a role akin to a town watchman; in others, it may have been seen as little more than a sinecure. There is a long history of the role of a lamplighter-as-lightbringer as a symbolic figure in literature."

I felt that these words were very important to the story, and in fact, I think that they define the story and its themes and/or meanings. As I read the story, I first felt pain and defeat, but as I met the lamplighter, my hope rekindled (pun intended). Even though the lamplighter was never seen, nor known, he was a bringer of light and hope. In the darkness, he provided a lighted path. Reading this story brought to mind religion. I continued to think of the notion of a prophet or a savior. The lamplighter acts much in the same way as a prophet or savior (for people in our time). And there are even examples that point to this notion: "there appears the curious figure of a man with a small flame over his head. He dashes down the sidewalk as if pursued by the darkness, stops for an instant at each lamp, then having kindled a merry light, vanishes like a shade" (Shades). I also thought it peculiar that the lamplighter "vanishes like a shade" and "disappears like a shade." After following the link to shade and finding the above Wikipedia definition, I found that the definition fit my notion of a prophet or savior quite well. I became a bit more interested and ventured to the OED to find more definitions of "shade" to solidify my savior theme. Here are a few:

the shades: the darkness of the nether world; the abode of the dead, Hades.
The visible but impalpable form of a dead person, a ghost.
A spectre, phantom.
Applied to the condition of the present life in contrast to that of heaven.
An unsubstantial image of something real; an unreal appearance; something that has only a fleeting existence, or that has become reduced almost to nothing

These definitions fit very nicely with my savior theme.

I felt that there were a few more themes playing in the story. One theme that I noticed was the good vs. the evil or light vs. dark. This theme seemed to go with the savior theme quite well and with another theme that I identified. Taking from Sigmund Freud, his definition of the psyche with the ID, Ego, and Superego seemed to be at play within the story as well. The theme of the ID vs. the Ego fit well with the light vs. the dark as the mind battles towards harmony between the passions and the intellect. And, to me, it seems that all of the themes that I have identified work together to tell the story of light vs. dark. The conclusion of the themes:

"Amid the murk of life, where wretched mankind gropes its way along, where some smash into obstacles, others fall into an abyss, and no one knows a secure path, where superstition-bound man is prey to mischance, misery and hate — in the dark trackless areas of life, lamplighters also bustle about. Each carries a small flame over his head, each kindles light along his path, lives unknown, labors unestimable, and then disappears like a shade..." (Shades).

There is hope in a dark world.