Shadow (Allegory)
When improvising the race-reversed Robinson Crusoe pantomime, Jackson tells a story about a shadow copying a child's every move; embedded in the shadow story is an allegory for the relationship between colonizer and colonized. Jackson says:
Every movement you made, your shadow copied … and you smiled at me as a child does smile at his shadow’s helpless obedience. … But after a while the child does get frighten of the shadow he make. He say to himself, That is too much obedience, I better hads stop. But the shadow don’t stop, no matter if the child stop playing that pantomime, and the shadow does follow the child everywhere.
Jackson ends his allegory by saying: "And that is why all them Pakistani and West Indians in England, all them immigrant Fridays driving all you so crazy. And they go keep driving you crazy till you go mad. In that sun that never set, they’s your shadow, you can’t shake them off." In this way, Jackson uses the child's shadow allegory to illustrate the way the white British have developed a hypocritical resentment of the people on whom they imposed their culture.
Racist Parrot (Symbol)
The parrot who lives at the Castaways Guest House is a symbol of antiquated colonial attitudes. Early in the play, Jackson lodges his fifth complaint against the bird for calling him a racist slur. Harry excuses the bird's behavior by claiming that he is merely pronouncing the hotel's former owner's name, Heinegger. Meanwhile, Jackson attributes malice to the bird, accusing it of clinging to precolonial ideas and failing to move with the times. In Act Two, Jackson kills the bird, making good on his threat that the bird will not survive if it doesn't learn to adapt.
Different Bathrooms (Symbol)
In Act Two, the difference between Harry's private bathroom and the servants' outhouse arises as a symbol of inequality. Although Tobago has recently (at the time of play) been granted independence from Britain, there is an obvious difference in economic and social status between Jackson and Harry as the Black Trinidadian employee and white English hotel owner respectively. When Harry offers to let Jackson use his private toilet, Jackson takes the opportunity to highlight the absurd juxtaposition between Harry's nice clean bathroom and the outhouse the staff members use, which is so rustic that tourists take photographs of it.
Twitch of the Lip (Symbol)
The "twitch of the lip" that Jackson notices in Harry's face is a symbol of unconscious bias. At the beginning of Act Two, Harry attempts to clear the air with Jackson by inviting him to have a drink and discuss the awkwardness of their aborted improvisation from that morning. Although Harry claims to want to talk things out "man to man," Jackson informs his employer that his lip twitches whenever Jackson drops the "mister" from his name and simply calls him "Trewe." This slight shock betrays Harry's inherent discomfort with Jackson violating the boundary between employee and employer, Black and white, servant and master. Despite his purported desire to attain a level of equality with Jackson, Harry cannot help but give away his real feelings.
Excessive Drinking (Motif)
Excessive drinking arises in Act Two of Pantomime as a significant motif. Walcott introduces the motif when Harry declines a sandwich for lunch and asks that Jackson bring him beer and Scotch instead. As an aside, Harry declares, "What the hell, let's all get drunk," then asks Jackson to bring some beer for himself. Though Jackson initially rejects the idea of drinking on the job, he sits with Harry and has a beer while Harry drinks large pours of Scotch. As the second act goes on, Harry becomes inebriated, and his behavior grows erratic. Eventually, Harry drinks to the point where he can discuss the emotions he has been repressing. Walcott emphasizes the motif further with the revelation that Harry's ex-wife was an alcoholic who killed her and Harry's son in a drunk-driving accident. With this new information, the audience realizes that Harry's drinking is a self-destructive response to dealing with the misery and trauma that alcoholism has inflicted on his life.
