Trauma
The final theme in the movie is Trauma. Laeddis has gone through so many bad events such as invading a concentration camp, finding his children drowned in the lake, and killing his own wife. All three of those events are highly traumatic and have heavily impacted Laeddis’ mental state. One of the doctors at the facility said that trauma creates monsters. Laeddis believes that he is a monster, this can relate to the final scene of the movie. The line, “Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man.” This is showing that he is choosing not accept reality. He would rather die as Teddy and not live as Laeddis, the traumatized “monster”.