Motorcycle Jacket Symbol Analysis

The leather motorcycle jacket that Des buys for Jason to wear in the family portrait has two layers of symbolic significance. On the surface, the jacket represents how Des and his parents gloss over Des’s criminality (he’s facing his fourth criminal charge for aggravated assault) and instead frame him as an impish troublemaker or “naughty boy.” When Michelle tasks Des with buying an outfit for their newborn to wear in the family portrait, she emphasizes that she wants their baby to “look really good.” But when Des comes back to the hospital toting a miniature leather jacket covered in zippers and patches, it’s clear that his version of “look[ing] really good” means looking like a “naughty boy.” In other words, he sees his own “naughty boy” image as a level of coolness to strive for and pass down to his son—not something to be ashamed about. And as he slides the jacket onto Jason, Des announces proudly, “He’ll be a little bikie” (biker), again showing how he glorifies and relishes in his own bad-boy image. Just before Des bought the jacket, Michelle was thinking back to a barbeque she attended with Des’s family. As Des explained to his parents that he was being made to paint lines on basketball courts as part of his community service order (i.e., part of his punishment for criminal behavior), his father had “[shook] his head with something like admiration” and said to Michelle with a smile, “You’ll have to watch this one, love […] He can be a bit of a naughty boy.” So now, as Des beams proudly at his newborn son in a tiny leather jacket, he seems to be echoing this same dynamic.

In line with this, the baby-sized motorcycle jacket also symbolizes Des’s inability to mature into the kind of partner, father, and adult that Michelle wants him to be—he will always be an immature “naughty boy.” When Michelle sees the motorcycle jacket, she immediately recognizes that it’s unfit for a newborn baby: the collar is “cumbersome,” and Michelle “imagines it chafing at Jason’s soft neck” before he’s even wearing it. That Des picked out such an uncomfortable garment for their days-old baby—and is so proud of the jacket he chose—underscores that Des is ill-equipped to be a father and caretaker for their baby. Michelle also groans inwardly at how expensive the jacket must have been—and at how foolish it was for Des to spend a lot of money on baby clothes when their baby is going to quickly grow out of the jacket and they don’t yet have other baby necessities like a changing table. Here, Michelle’s level-headed reasoning contrasts sharply with Des’s impulsivity, impracticality, and “idiot chimp smile,” again suggesting that Des is unable to think like a parent. Looking at the jacket, Michelle thinks to herself, “Jason might grow out of it […] but Des never will, and there’s nothing she can do about that now.” With this, Michelle underscores that Des will be perpetually stuck in his immaturity, and that there’s nothing she can do to force him to grow out of it.