| Page | Reference |
|---|---|
| 56 | La Desedida ... The Parting This picture of a split rock, placed beside wedding invitations and prints of "extravagantly floriferous brides" in the printer's shop-window, symbolizes to Yvonne the split between here and the Consul. The spinning flywheel of the presses, Lowry reminded Jonathon Cape, is to be seen as part of the previous wheel imagery. |
| 58 | Eggs The Spanish word for eggs is 'huevos', which (in Mexico) is inevitably associated with testicles. Symbolically, the Consul has gone into the abarrotes ('Groceries') to buy virility. |
| 58 | beauful layee i.e., 'beautiful lady' (with sexual pun) |
| 58 | "La Cucaracha" 'The Cockroach', the song of the Mexican revolution |
| 58 | the bizarre house M. Laruelle's zacuali with the inscription No se puede vivir ein amar |
| 61 | Q-ship Warship camoulflaged as a merchant ship |
| 61 | Cuckoldshaven i.e., Cuernavaca. The Consul puns on 'cuerna' = 'horn', associated with cuckholdry. |
| 61-2 | Frente al Jardin Xicotancatl ... Redondillo: (Span.) 'Opposite the Xicotencatl Garden. Sunday, 8 November, 1928. 4 exciting fights. The Balloon vs. the Bouncing Ball'. |
| 62 | Hoot S. Hart Perhaps William S. Hart (1870 - 1940), the leading hero of the early westerns. Another popular cowboy star of the twenties and thirties was Hoot Gibson. |
| 62 | Riders of the Purple Sage Film based on the western-romance Riders of the Purple Sage (1912), a best-seller by Zane Grey |
| 63 | Theodore Watts Dunton ... Swinburne For the last 30 years of his life, Swinburne lived with and was nursed by Watts Dunton. "Mute Swinburne" "Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest", Gray's "Elegy" |
| 63 | a very popular front Pun on the Popular Front, the union of anti-fascist parties which won the general election in Spain, 1936 |
| 65 | iron mine ... under the garden The subterranean geography of the Consul's garden is vaguely reminiscent of the "deep romantic chasm" in Coleridge's "Kubla Khan". |
| 66 | To and fro from school W.J. Turner's poem "Romance", 1939. When I was but thirteen or so I went into a golden land, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Took me by the hand. My father died, my brother too, They passed like fleeting dreams, I stood where Popocatapetl In the sunlight gleams. I dimly heard the master's voice And boys' far-off at play, Chimborazo, Cocopaxi Had stolen me away. I walked in a great golden dream To and fro from school - Shining Popocatapetl The dusty strets did rule. I walked home with a gold dark boy And never a word I'd say Chimborazo, Cotopaxi Had taken my speech away: I gazed entranced upon his face Fairer than any flower - O shining Popocatepetl It was thy magic hour: The houses, people, traffic seemed Thin, fading dreams by day, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi The had stolen my soul away. (It comes up later that Yvonne also knows the poem) |
| 66 | pariah dog Pariah dogs are always following the Consul. By their name, they are associated with Parian, which carries overtones of death. Kilgallin and Markson see the pariah dog as "a symbol of guilt". Bradbrook notes that "although the Tarot pack is not directly invoked, the figure of the travelling Fool witha dog following him and attacking him, seems to represent the Consul (it is the zero of the pack)". Faust and Yudhishthira of the Mahabharata were also followed by dogs. |