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 early evening. Offstage, Davies, still enraged, complains to Mick about Aston telling him he “stink[s].” Mick assures Davies he doesn’t stink. Mick and Davies enter the room. Davies says Mick’s “got sense, not like [Aston.]” Mick stops in his tracks, instantly offended by Davies’s assertion that his brother “hasn’t got any sense.”
Mick will humor Davies, but only to a point. When Davies mocks Aston for not having any “sense,” he crosses a line, and Mick makes his obligation to his brother known. This again suggests that although Mick and Aston have a distant relationship, they still feel an ingrained sense of loyalty to each other.
Themes
Davies tries to backtrack, arguing that Aston has no right to tell him what to do and that he and Mick “can both see [Aston] for what he is.” Mick asks Davies about Aston’s response to Mick offering Davies the caretaker position. Davies stutters, ultimately relaying what Aston said about Aston “liv[ing] here.” Mick admits that Aston has a point—he does live there, even though Mick technically owns the place. Davies suggests that Mick should kick Aston out, and Mick admits that he could do that, since he’s the landlord. However, since Aston is a tenant, there are some legal issues to consider.
Davies doesn’t seem to grasp Mick’s obligation to Aston, so he continues to mock Aston, insinuating that Aston is some kind of freak for being hospitalized. Davies is desperate to continue living in the building and put off going to Sidcup, where he’ll be forced to retrieve his identification papers and face who he really is. So, he tries to test Mick’s limits, seeing if there’s still a way for him to get Mick to side with him and kick Aston out of the building.
Themes
Irate, Davies tells Mick that Aston should return to the mental institution. Mick says Davies is out of line but quickly changes the subject to talk about fixing up the building. Mick says he doesn’t mind putting forth the effort of fixing up the place, so long as Davies is as good an “interior decorator” as he claimed he was, which isn’t something Davies has ever purported to be. Davies believes that Mick is mistaken, but Mick insists that this is not the case, as Davies is “the only man” to whom he’s confessed his “dreams,” and that he only told Davies these things because he was under the impression that Davies was “an experienced first-class professional interior and exterior decorator.”
The reader might initially believe that, at some point during his stay in Mick’s building, Davies lied about being an interior decorator to ingratiate himself with Mick, whose dream is to fix up the place. After all, Davies has lied about nearly everything else: his background, his name, his intentions to go to Sidcup. However, Davies appears not to have claimed to be an interior decorator, and Mick only says so to catch Davies off guard and manipulate him further. The irony of the situation is that it would be easy for Davies to agree to Mick’s assumption, lying in order to buy himself some more time to hang around the place.
Themes
Davies tries to interject, but Mick goes on a rant, listing all the specific tasks Davies won’t be able to do since he’s not an interior decorator. Davies admits that he won’t be able to do any of these jobs, which results in Mick calling him “a bloody imposter.”
Ironically, the moment when Davies doesn’t lie about his identity or his abilities is when Mick calls him an imposter. Symbolically, this contradiction points to the meaninglessness of striving for an authentic self, as it suggests that people will be misunderstood whether they lie or tell the truth.
Themes
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Mick moves to the chair, puts his foot on it, and demands to know Davies’s real name. Davies claims his real name is Davies, but that he goes by Jenkins. Mick insists that Davies must have more names and demands to know why Davies told him he was an interior decorator. Davies suggests that it must have been the “nutty” Aston who told Mick that Davies was a decorator, which enrages Mick. Davies tries to defend his statement, claiming that Aston called himself nutty first.
Davies makes his situation even more dire when he tries to explain that Mick’s misunderstanding about Davies being an interior decorator is something the “nutty” Aston must have said. Given how calculating Mick is, it’s possible that he might have predicted that Davies would try to blame the misunderstanding on Aston, thereby giving Mick all the reason he needs to expel Davies from his building once and for all. If so, this is a complicated situation. On the one hand, expelling Davies for the disrespect he shows Aston illustrates Mick’s obligation to his brother; on the other hand, it also means that Mick is using Aston’s condition to benefit him and his plot to bewilder and torment Davies. The contradictory implications behind Mick’s reasoning suggests that even the most outwardly altruistic gestures (Mick standing up for Aston) can be backed by self-serving intentions.
Themes
Mick announces that Davies has been trouble since he first stepped foot inside the house. Further, he decides that he can’t trust Davies since he’s so “violent,” “erratic,” and “unpredictable.” Mick also states that Davies “stinks,” referencing Davies’s failure to retrieve his references in Sidcup despite the many reassurances that he would. Mick throws a sixpence at Davies “to pay [him] off for” the caretaking work he’s done thus far.
It's humorous that Mick calls Davies “violent,” “erratic,” and “unpredictable,” since those words could also be used to describe Mick himself. When Mick tells Davies he “stinks,” he uses the language Aston has used to insult Davies, which aligns the brothers with each other and, by extension, positions Davies as an outsider. Despite Davies’s best efforts, both brothers appear to have turned on him.
Themes
Davies tells Mick he can do this if he really wants to. In response, Mick furiously picks up the Buddha statue and throws it against the stove, shattering it. He rants about all the things he has to worry about besides the house, such as his business and the future. He decides he no longer has time to worry about decorating the house.
The Buddha symbolizes Aston’s projection of his problems onto objects, as well as his inability to move forward in life. So, when Mick destroys the statue, he grants Aston the symbolic freedom to move forward with his life. More broadly, the statue represents all the characters’ inability to move forward. So, breaking the statue is a freeing move for Mick, as well, which is apparent in his decision not to worry about decorating the house any longer.
Themes
Aston enters the room. The three men remain silent, though Aston and Mick look at each other and exchange a smile. Mick leaves the room. Aston sees the broken Buddha laying behind Davies before moving to the bed, sitting down, and fiddling with the screwdriver and plug. Davies watches Aston playing with the plug and wonders aloud if it’s the same one and, if so, why Aston can’t seem to finish fixing it. He starts to say something about Aston “persever[ing]” and finishing the task but stops himself.
Aston and Mick’s silent smile is significant, given that it’s the first time the brothers have communicated with each other (albeit nonverbally) in the entire play. Their bond is seemingly the only thing that gives them some sense of purpose and connection, which suggests that family can be a potential source of meaning and comfort in an otherwise alienating world. Perhaps this is a sign that Aston and Mick might start to become closer, making up for the distance that Aston’s disability has forged between them. This nonverbal interaction also suggests that the brothers might be ready to stand together to force out Davies, the outsider, once and for all.
Themes
Davies makes a grand speech about how kind Aston was to give him a place to sleep and what a great friend he’s been. He defends his own noisiness, claiming it was really the open window that caused it, and if Aston had only given Davies his own bed, he might not have made so much noise. Still, Davies counters, he understands that Aston needs fresh air after what the doctors did to him. Davies suggests they switch beds so that he can continue in his role as caretaker, but Aston rejects the offer, asserting that he likes sleeping in his own bed; further, the bed Davies has been sleeping in is Mick’s bed when he stays over.
Davies seems to recognize the significance of Aston and Mick’s shared moment, so he desperately tries to redeem himself in the eyes of Aston—who, with Mick’s support, now holds the power to actually kick him out of the building. Still, Davies can’t help himself, and he immediately segues into a rant in which he defends his rude behavior. But Davies’s actions here are self-defeating: given how close Aston is to kicking Davies out of the building, Davies should be doing everything in his power to win Aston’s favor. Ultimately, though, Davies’s almost pathological need to uphold an air of superiority overpowers his attempts at an apology. His impulse to perform a superficial identity overpowers his attempts to be honest and authentic.
Themes
Davies tries to reason with Aston, even offering to help Aston with the shed, but Aston refuses his help. He’s made up his mind: Davies cannot stay because he “make[s] too much noise.” Davies sputters, wondering aloud what he’ll do, making tepid plans to put on the shoes Aston gave him to go out and get his papers, but he trails off, never really completing a thought. Meanwhile, Aston turns and looks out the window. Davies moves toward the door. The curtain falls.
Aston’s repeated insult that Davies “make[s] too much noise” is both literal and figurative—Davies literally makes noises in the night, and he also has a tendency to spout superficial, meaningless drivel. That Aston kicks Davies out for this reason optimistically represents a rejection of the artificial and embracement of the authentic. When Aston looks out the window, he literally and figuratively turns his back on Davies, refocusing his attention on his dreams of a future with Mick in their finished home and a wood shed in the back yard. It’s important to note that a play that repeatedly stresses the potential meaninglessness of language ends in Davies’s unfinished thoughts, followed by silence. On the one hand, the play ends optimistically, with Aston and Mick overcoming their alienating, distanced relationship to join together and expel Davies, the outsider who poses a threat to their relationship and lifestyle. However, the play still ends on uncertain terms: Aston has been staring out the window, dreaming about his shed, without actually taking steps to make his dreams a reality the entire play. It’s therefore plausible that he will continue in this way indefinitely—that although Davies is gone, the brothers’ meaningless, static lives will go on as they did been before Davies arrived.
Themes
