Gender
The most important theme in Jackie Kay’s Trumpet is the portrayal of gender. Through having many different narrators, the novel allows the reader to witness reactions to the various perspectives on transgender individuals. These viewpoints range from uninformed to educated to accepting to downright vulgar. On one end of the spectrum we have the officials of the State and Sophie Stones. Albert Holding and Dr. Krishnamurty believe that gender is determined by physical sex, while Sophie calls Joss a "transvestite" rather than transgender. She deems him someone who only dressed as a man, not someone who lived their whole life as one; she knows as little as the reader does about Joss’s decisions behind the choice, but she does not care as long as she can sell books. Kay raises questions about the true nature of gender, because if no one knew Joss was a man because he "performed" it so well, what even is gender? Therefore, Kay suggests that gender and sex are not inextricably linked.
Identity and Naming
Names/naming are an important component of Kay’s novel. The most salient manifestation of this theme is the change of Joss’s name from his previous Josephine. While this is an important event that allows Joss freedom to appear as a man to society, it occurs before the start of the novel. Therefore, the reader is first introduced to the late protagonist as Joss, and then discovers he was previously Josephine, making this name secondary to "Joss," in accordance with how Joss likely felt. A further impact of names applies to Colman Moody, Joss’s son. He was adopted by Joss and Millie, meaning that he questions what it means to be a Moody. What would it have been like if he belonged to a different family and had a different name? He not only feels a pressure to live up to his father’s achievements, but comes to doubt his own entire identity once Joss's biological sex is discovered. He therefore considers how life as William Dunsmore, his birth name, would have changed his upbringing and thus identity.
Grief
Despite Kay’s exploration of gender, whenever the perspective returns to Millie in Torr, it is simply a heart-wrenching account of a grieving widow. For Millie, the public reveal that Joss was biologically a woman does not change the grief she feels for her loss. It might prove a nuisance when trying to continue the grieving process as she wishes, but it is almost a pinprick compared to the depths of sadness she feels at her husband's death. In Torr, Millie can only sink in to the depths of grief and begin the process once she is alone. During this process, the only comfort she can gain is that her grief is the same as everyone else’s, and that many other widows feel as she does. In one passage, she states that "many women know the shape, the smell, the color of loss," suggesting it can be an all-encompassing experience. Many novels end with death; in beginning with death, Kay allows the reader to witness the repercussions of loss and the painstakingly long process to begin to heal.
Sexuality
Within a novel where a man’s gender is discovered to be different, there are inevitably questions arising about Joss’s sexuality. As Joss is biologically female, his relationship with Millie may be seen as technically a lesbian partnership. However, Kay refuses to place any labels on their relationship, and focuses on their deep love for each other, rather than whether it is technically classed as hetero- or homosexual. Whenever Kay describes any scenes of intimacy between Joss and Millie, the focus is always on love and pleasure, and she never specifies female or male anatomy. The questioning of Joss’s sexuality has a large impact on Colman, who took his example of masculinity from his father. Colman feels almost cheated that Joss lied to him, and mocks the masculine things he did for Colman, such as buying him a shaving set. It also prompts Colman to aggressively reaffirm his own sexuality, which he does by imagining himself with a larger penis and sexually dominating Sophie Stones. Therefore, sexuality is not only about categorizing who someone is attracted to: for Colman, it is intrinsically connected to gender, and he feels threatened because all he originally associated with masculinity has been taken away from him.
Family and Community
The concept of family and community permeates the novel not only thematically, but also structurally. Kay uses the different chapters to present Joss’s friends and family in their individual points of view. This helps to build a sense of community throughout the novel, as it presents Joss as a passionate individual whom almost everyone seemed to like and respect. A particularly poignant example is Big Red McCall, who accepts almost immediately that Joss was transgender, and will not allow Sophie Stones to mar the memory of a talented musician. Family is also an important theme, and the reader often sees the Moodys' earlier family life via flashback. This technique provides a background history for Millie, Joss and Colman, while also suggesting that a group need not be conventionally related to be classed as family. Ultimately, the community of musicians and of Millie and Colman that Joss did build created a circle of trust, which makes Sophie Stones even more an intrusive outsider for attempting to penetrate.
Passion
Throughout the novel, Joss is portrayed as such a talented musician through his passion for jazz, described in one chapter as Joss completely tearing himself apart to then put himself back together again. Similarly, Millie and Joss’s love for each other is based on a passion that transcends the boundaries of conventional heterosexual relationships. This novel therefore rewards those with genuine passion, and punishes those who lack it. For instance, Sophie is never convincingly passionate about writing, and Colman duly snubs her before the research is even finished. Again, Colman is punished for a lack of direction in his life, buckling under the pressure of being Joss Moody’s lackluster son. He is rewarded with clarity of sight at the end of the novel when he transforms his drunken rage into passion to preserve his father’s legacy.
The Act of Writing
Throughout the novel, the reader encounters different acts of writing. The main figure is Sophie Stones, the tabloid journalist. We as readers are only actually privy to a few pages of her biography on Joss. Therefore, Kay perhaps suggests that it is not what is written that matters, but the act of writing that speaks volumes. Sophie is a journalist, yet focuses more on money to spend on designer clothes and besting her superior sister. She is thus unaware of the power that words have, especially about Joss. Her ignorance makes her dangerous, as does her insensitivity in thrusting the more vulgar label of "transvestite" on to Joss’s identity and refusing to use male pronouns. It is also important that Joss’s memoir is predominantly written by a complete stranger. Instead of giving a voice to the late musician, it mutes him. In comparison, there is an act of writing that reinstates the authority of Joss’s voice—his letter at the end. While it offers Colman no words of traditional fatherly advice, the narrative about Joss's father coming to Scotland on a ship allows Colman a window into family and diasporic history and a possible framework in which to construct his own identity. Joss's act of writing allows him to pass this all on, giving him a kind of life after death.
