Mr. Todd
Mr. Todd is Queenie’s neighbor. He doesn’t like Cockney. Then he doesn’t like blacks moving into the neighborhood. He is a singularly unpleasant racist, but his prejudice and discrimination is symbolic of a much larger, more broadly encompassing, and deep-seated ideological dwarfism. He is the embodiment of the racism permeating Queenie’s neighborhood.
Doorbells
Doorbells take on symbolic significance in the novel as a result of old-fashioned status. Yes, doorbells are a status symbol representing the wealthy and sophistication of upper class British society. And yet, at the same time, they also come to represent—as status symbols often do—the illusion of the empty hypocrisy of that very same economic strata.
Queenie
Naming a child born into the less than highly polished manners befitting a home with a doorbell after the Queen is an indication of one of two things: irony or sincerity. While it is certainly ironic to name a child born into such circumstances Queenie, the irony is lost upon her parents who choose that name to reflect their sincere love of Queen and country. The name Queenie serves both as an affirmation of the widespread desire among commoner to identify with their royalty and an indictment of that very same misplaced desire.
The Japanese Fighter Pilot
Bernard’s dream of a Japanese pilot having an appointment with his own destiny is strange enough to absolutely require that it must have some symbolic significance. The events follow a usual dream-like illogic involving knowing the pilot is coming for him, uncertainty as to proper action, and the complete shock of Queenie in bed acting as though she’s known the pilot all her life all coalesce around Bernard’s previously indicated ambiguous reactions to things unknown. The dream embodies the deep-rooted sense of fear that drives Bernard’s personality of hate.
The House
The house is divided, symbolically speaking. The sanctuary offered there by Queenie gives others a sense of safety and belonging. At the same time, Bernard views the house as epitomizing the safe environs of the classical British tradition he considers a utopian ideal. This divergence of perspective has the effect of conferring upon the home a political symbolism pitting progressive liberalism against reactionary conservatism or, in other words, the house symbolizes England itself.
