Themes and message

Loneliness

The short story “Jubilee” by Carys Davies explores the theme of loneliness. The theme is mainly illustrated by Arthur Pritt, who is mourning the loss of his wife. The story shows that his wife left him for a woman and that Arthur is unable to come to terms with this loss. The beginning of the story shows that Arthur has kept some of his ex-wife’s items and that he often touches them, becoming nostalgic (ll. 17-18). Therefore, everything that Arthur sees is filtered through a lens of loneliness and grief.

As the Queen has also lost her spouse, Arthur imagines that the Queen feels just as lonely as he does, and he projects his feelings of loneliness onto her. He is also influenced by rumors that say the Queen still lays out her late husband’s clothes and he assumes that her apparent sadness must be related to the death of her husband. 

The story’s theme is also connected with...