Fraud
The novelist explicitly explores the theme of fraud as well as how lives dependent on fraudulent income end up. In this work, Jonathan Alkaitis is very well known investor and owner of the hotel where both Paul and Vincent are working. However, beneath this facade, he is also the head of a worldly recognized scheme in which a lot of people are scammed off of their life savings as well as retirement benefits. Even though Jonathan's life is lavish, it does not last as he is soon arrested and imprisoned for his fraudulent lifestyle. His life crumbles since it's based entirely on fraudulent earnings. In this way, the writer encourages honest living as opposed to a life of fraud.
Guilt and Haunting
Guilt is also another theme that is quite well brought out in this novel. Both Jonathan and Paul become epitomes of this theme as brought out by the constant haunting that they suffer following the crimes that they committed in their lives. In order to bring out their guilt, the writer employs the use of ghosts which form an emblem of the guilt that these characters face. Jonathan is haunted by ghosts of the people that he conned off their earnings during the height of his scheme. Guilt is a major effect of the deceptive lives that these characters lead in the novel.
Love and relationships
The writer also explores the theme of love in The Glass Hotel. Even though this theme is not a major one in the work, it is quite evident through the relationship that Vincent and Jonathan have with each other. After Vincent takes up a job at the hotel owned by Jonathan on the Island of Vancouver, she meets him after which a relationship sprouts between them.
