Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Nightwood, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sexuality, Gender, and Nonconformity
Identity
Obsession and Despair
Otherness and the Search for Acceptance
Summary
Analysis
Nora’s salon is considered the oddest in America. Her house, which has been in her family for two centuries, includes extensive grounds with a chapel and a cemetery. All kinds of people come to Nora’s salon—poets, Catholics, Protestants, artists, radicals, and so on. Nora herself reminds many people of covered wagons and early American history, and her face gives away the fact that she loves everyone, gives what she can of herself to everyone. Because of this, many people take advantage of her. Nora lacks a sense of humor—even her smile seems somewhat strained and pessimistic. On the other hand, Nora never reproaches or accuses anyone, which draws people who want to confess something to her.
Unlike a lot of the characters in Nightwood, Nora doesn’t initially seem to have any issues being accepted by other people. Like a lot of people (especially women) in the 1920s, she hosts a salon that attracts a range of people who want to talk about art, politics, writing, and social issues. It’s different than others because Nora doesn’t seem like much of a radical herself (she reminds one of American traditions rather than progress), and because it attracts such divergent groups of people rather than groups where everyone agrees with everyone else.
Themes
In 1923, the circus Nora used to do publicity for arrives in New York. Nora goes to see the circus alone and sits next to a “girl” who is trembling as she smokes a cigarette. A lioness in a cage directly opposite the girl suddenly thrusts her paws through the bars while staring at the girl with eyes that seem to be full of tears that can’t escape. The girl stands up and suggests they leave when Nora takes her hand. Outside of the tent, Nora introduces herself and the girl tells her that her name is Robin Vote. She says she doesn’t want to be there anymore, but she is unable to say where she does want to be.
Barnes chooses the word “girl” instead of “woman” to describe Robin to emphasize her youth (Matthew also believed she couldn’t be more than 20 years old). As a very young woman, Robin is still trying to figure herself out. This could be part of why she struggled so much with the idea of motherhood and wants to spend so much time exploring the world and herself.
Themes
Robin stays with Nora until the middle of the winter, during which time Robin is haunted by her desire for love and her desire for anonymity. Together, Robin and Nora travel around Europe before returning to Paris. During this time, Robin shares little about her past, but continually conveys to Nora her desire for a home. Nora decides to buy an apartment in Paris that Robin likes and they move in together. Everything about their lives in the apartment testifies to the love between them, and they fill it with the knick-knacks they bought during their travels. Eventually, Nora finds herself alone in their house most of the night and a part of the day. She roams through the rooms, afraid of moving anything for fear that Robin might get confused and forget it’s her home.
Robin wants to be loved, but not necessarily understood. She senses that there is something shameful about herself that other people won’t understand or approve of, which is why she desires anonymity (to an extent, anyway). This, however, is isolating, hence her simultaneous desire for a home where she feels safe and cared for. Nora’s entire life revolves around Robin—loving Robin, making sure Robin always knows she has a home—which inevitably leads to an unhealthy obsession because so much of Nora’s identity gets wrapped up in the relationship.
Themes
If someone were to investigate Nora’s heart, they’d find Robin engraved there. Because of this, Robin’s “body” is always loved and never changes. Nora becomes obsessed with the image of Robin rambling through the streets, in constant danger of being hurt or killed, as every conceivable accident seems to rush towards her in Nora’s mind and dreams. Even when Robin and Nora are happily alone together, there seems to be a presence with Robin that peeks out in the songs she sings about a life that Nora has no part in. Other times, as they walk through the house, Nora and Robin fall into a passionate embrace. During some of these moments, however, Robin will say or do something uncharacteristic of her that indicates to Nora that Robin belongs to a different world that she will eventually return to. Nora believes the only way to keep Robin is death.
Because Robin maintains so much anonymity in the relationship, the most Nora can love is her “body”—her mind remains something of a mystery. Nora wants to possess Robin because she feels that’s the only way to keep Robin safe. Ironically, to actually possess Robin, Robin would have to be dead or unable to leave (either mentally or physically). This, at least, is the troubling conclusion Nora arrives at.
Themes
Get the entire Nightwood LitChart as a printable PDF.
As the sun goes down and Robin prepares to go out, Nora listens to her do her hair and makeup until Robin appears in the doorway to tell Nora not to wait up. During the years they live together, Robin’s excursions increase in frequency. Initially, Nora accompanied her, but she began staying home because she couldn’t bear feeling like she was in the way and believed that if she stayed home then Robin would want to return to her. Tortured by Robin’s absence, Nora, too, begins wandering through the streets at night, hoping to catch just a glimpse of Robin in a café. On the other hand, Robin determinedly sets off into the night hoping to create distance between herself and Nora, although she takes pleasure in remembering Nora’s love. Seeing Nora on the street, Matthew mentally calls her “dismantled” and thinks about her despair and desperation to find Robin.
Robin goes out at night rather than during the day (presumably she sleeps all day since she’s out all night) because the darkness helps Robin remain somewhat anonymous even while she explores the darker parts of herself with other people. Under cover of darkness, Robin can be more herself (for instance, it was at night that Robin was first able to express that she didn’t want a baby). For this reason, Nora starts going out at night too—she hopes she’ll be able to learn more about Robin this way, at least the parts that Robin tries to keep hidden during the day. Matthew thinks Nora is “dismantled” because Nora’s losing her sense of identity and self in her obsession with Robin.
Themes
Nora begins looking for Robin in other people and places, hoping to determine which people have an influence on Robin’s life by carefully observing their gestures. While she does this, Nora avoids the area she knows Robin is in so that nobody will connect Nora with Robin. Back in their home, Nora listens to the sounds outside, waiting for the ones that will indicate Robin’s return. In her dreams, Nora is in a room that looks like her grandmother’s but is evidently not in her grandmother’s house. Nora sees Robin in a different room, surrounded by other people but smiling at Nora. Nora calls to Robin to come up, but Robin fades into the distance. Suddenly Nora’s mind conjures up a childhood memory of her grandmother dressed in men’s clothing. Nora connects this to something having to do with Robin.
Nora’s dream contains some clues about Robin and her “otherness.” Nora connects the image of her grandmother in men’s clothing with Robin, who also seems to defy traditional views of femininity and what it is to be female. This could also partially explain what endears Robin to Nora—Robin reminds her of her beloved grandmother.
Themes
Nora wakes up and begins walking around the house. Looking into the garden, Nora notices a strange shadow and wonders if it’s Robin returning home. Nora calls out but, receiving no answer, walks toward the shadow. Suddenly, Nora sees Robin’s eyes shining out of the darkness, lit up by fear as their gazes meet. As Nora’s eyes adjust to the darkness, she realizes there’s another woman there clinging to Robin’s neck. Devastated, Nora falls to her knees and closes her eyes, hoping that the image will transform into Robin there alone. At the same time, Nora experiences a strange happiness because this affair indicates that other women are keeping Robin safe when she’s not with Nora.
Nora stopped accompanying Robin out at night because she hoped that Robin would always choose to return to her. In this situation, however, Robin has brought another woman (later revealed to be Jenny Petherbridge) to their home, a space that Nora considers sacred to her relationship with Robin. Because so much of Nora’s identity is wrapped up in the relationship, Robin’s affair is particularly devastating. Nora no longer has a strong sense of self outside of Robin and the love they share.
Themes
