The Caretaker

by

Harold Pinter

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The Bucket Symbol Analysis

The Bucket  Symbol Icon

The hanging bucket symbolizes the main characters’ unsustainable shared tendency to project their anxieties, ambitions, and personalities onto external objects rather than reflecting internally or communicating with one another. With its incessant, maddening sound of dripping water, the bucket reminds the room’s inhabitants of the passing of time and the ever-unresolved tension and malaise that grows between them. Aston hangs the bucket from the ceiling to catch that water that drips through the cracks in the roof. Instead of actually fixing the problem and tarring over the leaks in the ceiling, Aston pushes the problem down the road, offering a deferral of the problem in place of a solution. Likewise, their discussions about the bucket are themselves ways of deferring any genuinely productive communication, such as when Davies asks what they’ll do when the bucket is full, to which Aston responds that they’ll empty it, or when Mick questions Aston about whether emptying the bucket will really “do it.” In this way, the bucket serves as a vessel for the characters’ problems and anxieties, putting them aside and out of sight, but never completely out of mind.

Water drips into the bucket periodically throughout the entirety of the play, and all three men fixate on this at some point. The reader, too, is drawn to the bucket when either the dialogue or the stage directions draw their attention to the sound of dripping water. Thus, the persistent presence of the bucket serves as a reminder that the unresolved tensions and general malaise of the characters will not subside until real changes occur.

The Bucket Quotes in The Caretaker

The The Caretaker quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Bucket . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Power and Deception  Theme Icon
).
Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

MICK. […] You still got that leak.

ASTON. Yes. (Pause. Gets plug from shelf.) It’s coming from the roof. (looks up.)

MICK. From the roof, eh?

ASTON. Yes. (Pause.) I’ll have to tar it over.

MICK. You’re going to tar it over?

ASTON. Yes.

MICK. What?

ASTON. The cracks. (Pause.)

MICK. You’ll be tarring over the cracks on the roof.

ASTON. Yes. (Pause.)

MICK. Think that’ll do it?

ASTON. It’ll do it, for the time being.

MICK. Uh. (Pause.)

DAVIES. (Abruptly.) What do you do—? (They both look at him.) What do you do…when that bucket’s full? (Pause. Mick looks at Aston.)

ASTON. Empty it. (Pause.)

Related Characters: Aston (speaker), Mick (speaker), Davies
Related Symbols: The Bucket
Page Number: 28
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Bucket Symbol Timeline in The Caretaker

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Bucket appears in The Caretaker. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 1
Alienation and Family Theme Icon
The Limitations of Language  Theme Icon
...objects. A statue of Buddha sits on the stove. There’s a single window, and a bucket hangs from the ceiling. Mick looks around the room at everything surrounding him before gazing... (full context)
The Absurdity of Modern Society Theme Icon
Alienation and Family Theme Icon
As Mick stands to approach the bucket, there’s a bang at a door outside the room, and he can hear voices. Hurriedly,... (full context)
Power and Deception  Theme Icon
The Absurdity of Modern Society Theme Icon
Identity and Authenticity  Theme Icon
Davies asks about the bucket hanging above his bed. Aston explains that there’s a leak in the ceiling, which prompts... (full context)
Act 2, Scene 1
Power and Deception  Theme Icon
The Absurdity of Modern Society Theme Icon
Alienation and Family Theme Icon
The Limitations of Language  Theme Icon
...appears not to understand or hear Davies. Mick pauses as water drips into the hanging bucket. He tells Davies that Davies reminds him of his uncle’s brother, who is built similarly... (full context)
The Absurdity of Modern Society Theme Icon
Alienation and Family Theme Icon
Identity and Authenticity  Theme Icon
The Limitations of Language  Theme Icon
...a cigarette. The room is silent, minus the sound of water dripping into the hanging bucket. Mick comments on the leak. Aston says he plans to fix it by filling the... (full context)
Act 3, Scene 1
Power and Deception  Theme Icon
The Absurdity of Modern Society Theme Icon
Alienation and Family Theme Icon
Identity and Authenticity  Theme Icon
The Limitations of Language  Theme Icon
...quite a bit over the last week, yet the rain hasn’t dripped into the hanging bucket. Davies speculates that Aston must have sealed the ceiling cracks with tar, though Aston hasn’t... (full context)