What are the motifs in The Risk Pool by Richard Russo?

Father/son relationship is a recurring idea. Ned goes back and forth between when whether he is his mother's son or his father's son. He shares many similarities to his father: he likes to gamble, he is good at pool, he will leave a good woman to get drunk with the guys. However, Ned is not completely his father's son. He has a respectable job, and he actually wants to marry the woman who is carrying his child. Ned has a bit of his mother's respect for money as he gets older and wiser.