Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Caretaker, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Deception
The Absurdity of Modern Society
Alienation and Family
Identity and Authenticity
The Limitations of Language
Summary
Analysis
It’s night, and Aston and Davies are in bed. Davies makes noises in his sleep. Aston lights a cigarette, walks over to Davies’s bed, and shakes him awake, ordering him to be quiet. Irritated, Davies tells Aston he’s “not surprised they took [him] in” and accuses Aston of giving him nightmares. Davies continues to berate Aston. He throws aside his blanket to reveal that he is fully dressed and yells at Aston for opening the window and making it freezing in the room.
Whereas in his earlier conversation with Mick, Davies only implicitly criticized Aston for his mental illness, this time he addresses the matter explicitly, insulting Aston to his face for something over which Aston has no control. Again, Davies is tearing another person down in an attempt to make himself feel superior—but this, of course, makes Davies less likeable rather than more so.
Themes
Davies continues his rant, mocking Aston for his stay in the mental institution. He claims that Mick can send him back to receive more electroshock therapy and that the hospital made a mistake in releasing Aston in the first place, as he’s clearly still crazy. Davies continues to berate Aston, accusing him of “treating [him] like a bloody animal,” even though Davies isn’t the one who’s been institutionalized. Aston moves toward Davies, who takes out his knife.
Davies tries to pit Aston against Mick by claiming that Mick wants to send Aston away again, even though Mick hasn’t made any such remarks. Davies takes advantage of Mick and Aston’s distant relationship, believing that if he can drive a wedge between the two of them, he can ingratiate himself with one (or both) of them and, in so doing, become part of an in-group. Davies’s remark about Aston “treating [him] like a bloody animal” is projection, given that it’s really the other way around: it’s Aston who treats Davies with respect, and Davies who denies Aston compassion and understanding. Further, when Davies takes out his knife, he’s literally treating Aston like an animal—a creature who is unable to comprehend language and will only respond to brute force.
Themes
Aston tells Davies he should find somewhere else to live. Appalled, Davies argues that he can’t leave because he’s been offered the job of caretaker. Aston tells Davies he’s not a good candidate for the position. Davies tells Aston to get Mick, who’ll vouch for him.
The way people mistreated Aston when he had a mental illness destroyed his mind and his life, isolating him further from an already alienating world. So, although Aston has put up with Davies’s rudeness, noisiness, and ingratitude for weeks, when Davies ridicules Aston for his traumatic past and resultant disabilities, Aston decides that Davies has crossed a line. In a final effort to try to use Mick and Aston’s estrangement to his advantage, Davies threatens Aston that Mick will take his side if Aston tries to kick Davies out.
Themes
Aston offers Davies some money to get to Sidcup. Davies rejects Aston’s money and tells him to “build [his] stinking shed first.” Aston moves toward Davies, forcing him to back into and knock over the chair that’s behind him. Davies picks up the chair and uses it as a weapon, while Aston timidly defends his shed. Davies cautions Aston not to come any nearer and pulls out his knife.
Davies continues to pounce on Aston’s insecurities, this time bringing up the shed that Aston will likely never build. The physicality of this scene (Aston rising and moving toward Davies, Davies using the chair and then his knife as weapons) reflects the characters’ rejection of language and open communication. They are done trying to succeed in the impossible feat of understanding each other and instead resort to violence.
Themes
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Aston accuses Davies of “stinking the place out,” which greatly offends Davies. Aston again tells Davies to leave. Enraged, Davies points the knife at Aston’s throat. Calmly, Aston tells Davies to pack his things, initiating the task himself as he goes to Davies’s bed and places some items in Davies’s bag.
Aston’s accusation that Davies is “stinking the place out” parallels Mick’s earlier accusation, which suggests that Davies’s attempts to drive Aston and Mick apart has failed: the brothers’ obligation to each other puts them on the same wavelength, and Davies remains the outsider. Frustrated and unable to communicate this to Aston, Davies resorts, yet again, to violence.
Themes
Davies sputters a weak protest about Aston not having “the right” to do this to him, and about how Mick will vouch for him. Unfazed, Aston brings Davies’s packed bag to the door. Davies walks through the door, muttering that he no longer trusts Aston. After Davies leaves, Aston places the chair back in the center of the room. He hangs the blue coat on the wall, straightens the room, and fiddles with a plug as the stage fades to black.
Davies’s remark about Aston not having “the right” to do this to him is plainly wrong, as the building is rightfully Aston and Mick’s, not Davies’s. Davies’s words here mirror the play’s opening scene, in which Davies complains about men at the café not having the right to treat him badly and tell him what to do. Just as Davies was likely in the wrong then, he is in the wrong now, yet he lies to himself that the contrary is true. But just as blaming the men did not solve the problem at the café, blaming Aston does not solve Davies’s aimlessness or inability to connect with other people. Given that Aston originally gave the blue coat to Davies to symbolize Davies’s earning the caretaker position, Aston’s decision to hang the blue coat back on the wall symbolizes a reversal of that decision: in hanging the coat on the wall, Aston rips the concept of “caretaker” from Davies’s identity.
Themes
