People must be a light of hope and compassion in a world of darkness and gore. In the story, Jan and Antonina were talking about the Jews and they were afraid of being caught by the Nazis, but ultimately decided to save them and let them stay at their zoo because they knew the Jews needed a beacon of hope. I noticed a pattern because there were often times when a character in the story (mainly Jan and Antonina) where they needed to help somebody in their hour of need. For example, Jan often traveled to the Ghetto to help smuggle Jews out while Antonina was often faced with staying at the zoo and keeping their home and family safe as well as the Jews. Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper's Wife, says in an interview, "I'm fascinated how often and with what whole-heartedness people will risk their lives to perform acts of courage, sacrifice, and compassion for total strangers." This helps me to understand the theme because this is often repeated in the story as well as Ackerman stating it. She says she's fascinated with hour people help others when it doesn't benefit themselves, and so it makes perfect sense for her to base her story around Antonina. Overall, the main theme of the story is how people can ignore their violent instincts and show strangers hope and compassion.