54 pages • 1 hour read
Mr Loverman
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Symbols & Motifs
Dancing
Content Warning: This section references anti-gay bias and racism.
As a motif, dancing represents a cultural practice that is tied to the characters’ physicality and sexuality, developing the theme of Deception, Desire, and the Repression of Emotional Truths. Before their marriage, Carmel notices that Barry is only physically intimate with her when they are dancing. Carmel takes great pride in their dancing abilities, as the narration notes that Barry is the “best male dancer in St. John’s, same as [Carmel is] the best female dancer” (23). On their wedding night, however, Barry gets too drunk to dance with her in a moment that foreshadows the non-consummation of the marriage.
At the end of the novel, it is revealed that Carmel hasn’t danced since the 1970s. She reflects on this when she dances with her new lover, Hubert. Barry’s decades of neglect have stripped Carmel of one of the activities she loved the most, just as her physical need for intimacy was constantly rejected. This contrasts with Barry’s own relationship with dancing. As the novel’s opening scene establishes, Barry spends most of his nights out dancing with Morris. Although Barry must keep his orientation a secret, he is able to satisfy his physical needs, whereas Carmel cannot.
Properties
Properties are a motif that represents Barry’s wealth and agency in London and develops the theme of The Importance of Community to Marginalized People. Barry is a Caribbean immigrant who cannot rely on generational wealth or connections in England to succeed. Rather, Barry becomes a self-made man through identifying properties that are very cheap and then renovating them to rent out to wealthier tenants. Because Barry cannot get a loan from a London bank due to racial prejudice, he must rely on a loan from his father-in-law that he pays back with 20% interest—much higher than what a bank would charge.
Barry’s investment strategy relies on gentrification—the uprooting of poor or working-class people from their homes and communities due to rich people and luxury businesses moving in and raising the cost of living. Carmel also notices gentrification when she visits Antigua, as many rich foreigners buy property on the island to build large vacation homes that don’t reflect the financial realities of people who are from the island. Although Barry is enriched by this, the fact that he must rely on gentrification to turn a profit indicates larger structural issues related to racism, colonialism, and capitalism.
Nevertheless, Barry’s properties provide him with the agency and financial freedom to aid both the Caribbean and LGBT communities. His wealth empowers him to send money home to Antigua and to pay for many Antiguans’ private education. It also empowers him to help Merle, whose family turned her out when she came out as a lesbian. Barry’s properties also signify his stake in the country he has moved to. Buying and building homes in London make London feel more like home, for Barry.
Restored Buick
Barry’s 1970 Buick convertible symbolizes growth and change within Barry and Morris’s relationship. When Barry wants to buy a flashy and expensive Lamborghini, Morris argues that it’s inappropriate and wasteful. Convinced by Morris’s reasoning, Barry opts instead to fix his Buick, which has been broken down since 1975. In doing so, Barry decides to work on something meaningful from his past and make it beautiful and usable again.
On completion of the car’s restoration, the couple uses it to go on their first road trip together. For the first time, they explore England’s countryside. They experience the unfamiliar side of the country they’ve lived in for 50 years. They discover that despite their old age, life still offers many new joys to experience. Their use of the Buick symbolizes their appreciation of where they have come from and what they have. They have had to acknowledge and fix their past mistakes to explore the future.
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