Keyring
In Scene Three, Jerry and Emma make the decision to end their affair. After they work out an arrangement to sell the furniture and give up the lease to their apartment, Emma prepares to leave. Before she does do, she attempts to remove her key to the apartment from her keyring so that Jerry can return it to the landlord. Unable to remove the key, she grows frustrated and throws the keyring and Jerry. He then calmly removes the key and returns the keyring to her. She then says "Thanks. Listen. I think we've made absolutely the right decision" before leaving the apartment (p. 47). Here, the keyring is a symbol of the bond that Emma and Jerry shared, and the key was a form of access to the life they shared together. Thus, by returning the key, Emma has both literally and symbolically ended their relationship.
The Tablecloth
Having returned from Venice in Scene Six, Jerry and Emma meet at their apartment. Emma tells Jerry that she "bought something in Venice – for the house" and proceeds to take a tablecloth out of a parcel (p. 82). She asks Jerry, "do you like it?" and Jerry responds "it's lovely" before the conversation stalls (p. 82). The tablecloth is symbolic of Emma's attempts to create a sense of domesticity and connection between her and Jerry that extends beyond sex. In addition to buying the tablecloth, she routinely cooks meals for Jerry. In this sense, she wants to establish a life with Jerry; however, these attempts prove futile when Emma and Jerry decide to sell everything in the apartment, including the tablecloth, when their affair ends.
Glasses
The play opens with Emma sitting at a table in a pub and Jerry arriving with two glasses containing alcoholic drinks. The first half of this scene contains awkward conversation that results when two people who cheated on their spouses with each other have not seen each other for a couple of years. The easy intimacy is gone despite the extensive memories of intimacy in the past. Neither strangers nor acquaintances, the awkwardness of their discourse is indicative of the emptiness that has been created in a relationship once tightly bound. Midway through, Jerry takes the now-empty glasses and returns from the bar with refills. Almost instantly, the conversation is less strained, the sentences longer. The glasses become symbolic reflections of their prior relationship and the intervening two-year gap before being reunited as former lovers.
The Names on the Bells
In the opening scene of the play, Jerry and Emma reminisce about their past together. Emma reveals that she recently stopped by the apartment they once shared together, saying "I looked at the bells, you know, the names on the bells. I looked for our name" (p. 14). Jerry responds, "Green," indicating the name they used while having their affair together. He then says, "couldn't see it, eh?" and she responds "no" (p. 15). Here, "the names on the bells" are symbolic both of Emma and Jerry's past together, and Emma's desire to connect with that shared past. During the time of their affair, their name on the bell provided a tangible proof of their relationship together – even if it was not actually either of their surnames. When Emma returns to the apartment and discovers that their name is gone, it is as though she is struck by the realization that this important part of her life has ended and there is no tangible evidence that it ever occurred at all.
The Memory Motif
Memory is a central concern of the play. The characters frequently reminisce about the past, to the point that it even intrudes upon their experience of the present. At the same time, Pinter routinely highlights the faultiness of memory. For example, Emma and Jerry disagree where the memory of Jerry lifting Charlotte into the air took place: Jerry says "it was in your kitchen" but Emma insists "it was in your kitchen" (p. 13). Later, in the final scene of the play, Jerry tries to seduce Emma in her bedroom by recounting his memory of her at her wedding, saying "I saw you in white. I watched you glide by in white" (p. 114). Emma corrects him, however, by saying "I wasn't in white" (p. 114). On one hand, the motif of faulty memory might suggest to us that Jerry is not a particularly observant or sharp character. On the other hand, however, Pinter seems to suggest that our memories of the past – upon which we base our understandings of the present – are potentially flawed or incomplete. Indeed, even the memories we hold most dearly to us are not impervious to the ravages of time.
