Symbol: The Trumpet
The trumpet is perhaps the most important symbol in Kay’s novel. Despite existing as a written novel, the way that Joss Moody interacts with it with such passion means that sound is also an integral part of the story. When a younger Colman finds his Father’s trumpet, it is shiny and sacred; even at a young age, Colman understands its importance. The trumpet also extends beyond a symbol when Joss plays, and it becomes a part of him. Kay dedicates an entire chapter to not only the sound the trumpet makes, but the emotional and almost out-of-body experience it takes Joss to. During this chapter, he and the trumpet are not distinguished as human and instrument, but described as one being creating a transcendent moment. Therefore, the trumpet is not only a musical instrument, but a vessel that allows Joss to simultaneously lay forth his entire spectrum of emotion, the story of his heritage, and his naked soul.
Symbol: The Phallus
As each character discovers that Joss is biologically female, they focus on the lack of penis as one of the defining features. When Millie finds out he is transgender yet wants a child, the missing phallus becomes a symbol for her inability to perform her own biological duty to conceive a child; she loves Joss, but he does not possess the physical attributes to impregnate her. The next person to class the phallus as wholly representative of masculinity is Albert Holding, the undertaker. As he prepares the body for the funeral, it is a lack of the penis that shocks him. It is with this knowledge that Joss’s face also changes, becoming suddenly more feminine to his eye. Finally, the most symbolic significance of the phallus is in relation to Moody’s son, Colman. He fixates on the fact that his father did not have a penis; for Colman, this proves his father as a fraud and a liar. He then feels he must assert his own endowment and virility—"His cock seems bigger since his father died. Bigger and harder" (140)—in an overtly masculine way to make up for this loss he feels in his father.
Symbol: The Bandages
Moody's breasts are symbolic of his biological sex, not his assumed gender. They are deeply unsettling to people like Colman and the doctor and funeral director, all of whom see the breasts as utterly indicative of whom Joss should be. However, Joss chose to wrap his breasts in bandages and conceal them from the world, and these bandages are often referenced in the text. While Millie sees them simply as a symbol or a stand-in for Joss himself, choosing to sleep with them under her pillow, the doctor sees the bandage "lying curled on the bed like a snake" (44), referencing Joss's symbolic "shedding" of his "skin" by choosing to make private his anatomical gender and live life as a man.
Motif: Journeys
A series of journeys take place throughout the novel. The novel begins in London, where Millie, Joss and Colman all live. Yet, Millie and Joss’ initial years of courtship occurred in Glasgow, and Millie’s journey to their holiday cottage in Scotland in order to mourn properly is representative of returning to her roots, returning to where her life with Joss began. This journey also means returning to a safer place. In London, Millie is bombarded by the press, whereas in Torr, she only has the gentle condolences of the locals who knew Joss. Colman also makes this journey to Scotland with Sophie Stones. However, in this instance, the journey is representative more of an emotional journey that leads to forgiveness. On the train, he thinks he sees his father and chases after him, and all the while his mind is fixed on memories of Joss. A particularly poignant memory is his father saying "My heart starts beating the minute I cross the border," suggesting that any journey to Scotland always represents more than a move in physical location.
Symbol: The Written Word
After Joss’s death, Millie calls Doctor Krishnamurty to examine the body and fill in a death certificate. After discovering Joss’s biological sex, she crosses out "male" on the certificate and writes "female" in large, red, childish block letters. Firstly, the exaggerated process to reiterate Joss as female foreshadows the insensitive and intrusive manner in which the public will now view Joss; they see a scandal, not a broken family. Secondly, it is also wholly representative of the necessity for society to categorize people. They must fit in to the sex of either male or female, and this Doctor is ignorant about the vocabulary which would fit a transgender person. This is also reiterated by the "childish" style of writing, with Kay perhaps suggesting a naïve and uneducated view of the transgender community.
