Answer:
The details presented by the narrator show how it was necessary for him to abandon his own people in order to be able to achieve a better life, even if that was not easy. This develops the theme about the difficulty of life in the reserves.
Explanation:
This question is about "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", a story about an indigenous boy, who in the middle of the precarious situation of his reservation, decides to leave and try a better life away from his people in a city of only whites. It is difficult for the narrator to abandon his rez, but the region lived in many difficulties, such as precarious housing, high unemployment, infertile lands, diseases, lack of structure, among others. Although it is difficult for the narrator to leave his home and leave his own family in rez, he knows that this is the only way to achieve a better life for himself and for the family that has so much potential.
There are four major types of conflict in a story: character versus self, character versus character, character versus society, and character versus nature. In this story, one might argue that the main conflict exists between Della Dillingham and herself (character vs. self) because she agonizes over what to get for her husband, Jim, for Christmas, as well as how to pay for it. She's only been able to save $1.87, and she is heartbroken that she will not be able to get him the kind of gift she feels he deserves: something of which he can be proud. Della wrestles a bit with herself, hence the conflict, eventually deciding to sell her hair in order to have enough money for such a gift.
One might also argue that the main conflict takes place between Della and Jim (character vs. character). Remember that conflict doesn't necessarily mean that one side is good, a hero, and one side is evil, a villain. To be an antagonist in literature means that one is an opposing force, an instrument of plot development, and perhaps an agent of change on the part of the protagonist. In the end, both Della and Jim have sold their most prized possessions in order to purchase something nice for the other, and those sales have rendered the gifts they receive essentially unusable.
I would agree with you - the conclusion should leave readers with an important thought at the end.
This thought should never be new, or opposing to the previous ideas you had been writing before. It also shouldn't be confusing, but quite conversely - it should explain everything and put everything in place.
