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Chapter 13
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in One Day, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Relationships and Time
Social Class
Coming of Age and the Search for Meaning
Addiction and Recovery
Summary
Analysis
Saturday, July 15, 2000. During the preceding year, Sylvie gave birth to Jasmine Alison Viola Mayhew. That night in the hospital, Dexter promised to himself to always do the right thing for the sake of his daughter. Forty-five minutes later, he broke that promise and sneaks a cigarette in the bathroom. Dexter felt like he was unprepared to be a parent. His extreme sports show had quietly ended, and he became unemployed. Also in the time since last St. Swithin’s Day, he and Sylvie have moved out to Richmond, Surrey, a place that Dexter feels too young to live, although the move did help distract him. He has ended Mayhem TV, which never produced anything anyway, and finally caved to call Callum about a job.
The birth of his daughter marks a major milestone in Dexter’s life as he continues to leave his youth behind and officially becomes a parent. But despite this big change, Dexter’s secret bathroom cigarette shows that he struggles to change and leave behind other parts of his life. When Dexter moves out to Richmond (a more suburban setting than his home in London), he struggles to accept that he is leaving behind the wild nightlife of London, even though he hasn’t been a part of it for some time.
Themes
Now, on St. Swithin’s Day again in the year 2000, Dexter supervises a delivery for Natural Stuff, Callum’s company. A coworker recognizes him as someone who used to be on television, something that happens often enough to be annoying. Supposedly, Dexter is in line for an executive position, but Callum likes to make all his executives do month-long trainee programs with low-level employees.
Dexter feels ashamed of working for Callum because the way his coworkers recognize him from television is just a reminder of how far Dexter has fallen from his initial goals. Callum seems to enjoy this reversal of fortune by making Dexter do menial work, another sign of how cutthroat and status-focused life can be for London’s elite.
Themes
Dexter goes home after his shift and runs into the two Polish builders who are helping with his new house, and they warn him Sylvie is feeling “tired.” He comes inside, and Sylvie immediately gets annoyed when Dexter calls their daughter “Jas” instead of Jasmine. Jasmine looks a lot like her mother. Sylvie complains about how hard it’s been being stuck inside all day taking care of Jasmine while the builders bang around outside. She has planned a “hen night” with friends, but she considers canceling. Dexter insists she should go out and he can take care of Jasmine.
Dexter’s home life and relationship with his daughter shows how dominant Sylvie is in his life and how he struggles to assert himself. Sylvie is the one who gets to decide what Jasmine is called, and even Jasmine’s appearance seems to suggest that she is more like her mother. Sylvie’s trepidation about leaving Dexter to watch the child on his own shows how Dexter isn’t very involved as a parent.
Themes
Sylvie gives Dexter instructions for Jasmine, saying she should go to bed at 8:00. As Sylvie gets ready to go, Dexter thinks she looks amazing and remembers they haven’t had sex in about six weeks. As Sylvie looks at Dexter and scolds him for holding Jasmine’s head wrong, he knows she regrets ever getting involved with him.
The lack of sex in Dexter’s life shows how his priorities have changed as he’s aged. But while Dexter may have gotten rid of his need for meaningless sex, he clearly has not found something to replace it and still feels a similar void in his life.
Themes
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Jasmine makes a lot of noise, so Dexter tries to feed her. While he does so, Suki is on TV announcing the lottery numbers, and Dexter tries not to feel jealous. He starts to feel like he needs a cigarette. Jasmine keeps crying, and Dexter considers having a drink and calling Suki later. He takes Jasmine with him in a baby harness and goes to buy booze and cigarettes. When he gets back, he drinks, then goes outside to have his first cigarette in two weeks.
Dexter’s need for a cigarette shows how being alone without Sylvie makes him go back to his old addictions. It’s often stress that triggers his drinking, and so in this case, his desire to drink seems to be connected to his parenting anxieties.
Themes
Dexter goes back in to change Jasmine’s diaper, disgusted by the process. He tries to put her to sleep, but she screams whenever he leaves. He panics and tries to quiet her by giving her milk. She quiets and he leaves, pouring another glass for himself. He tries to watch TV but doesn’t understand new shows like Big Brother and none of his video games interest him either. He wants to talk to a human so he takes out his cell phone, realizing at that moment that he’s become drunk.
Dexter’s lack of interest in video games or in new shows like Big Brother represent how Dexter is aging out of the youth culture that once was the focus of his whole career. While this could be a moment of maturity, instead it seems to be a sign that Dexter is losing his passion for life, as his new family doesn’t fill the void that these old pleasures used to fill for him.
Themes
Meanwhile, in Whitechapel, Emma was promised a dinner party, but Stephanie Shaw and her husband are too busy with their child to cook. She doesn’t mind, although she long ago got tired of how much her friends talk about babies. She sees on her cell phone that she’s getting a call from Dexter but doesn’t answer because she doesn’t want to hear about his new dad problems. Emma keeps most of her opinions about how boring babies are to herself because she knows they’re socially unacceptable.
Though Emma doesn’t have children herself, as people in her social circle start to settle down and have children, it affects Emma’s life as well, leaving her feeling isolated and abandoned. Emma sees Dexter as part of the problem, with Dexter’s new role as a father taking over his life.
Themes
After finishing a voicemail to Emma, Dexter calls Suki on his cell phone. She’s at a party and doesn’t recognize his voice at first. Eventually, she recognizes him and remembers but is surprised, because she hasn’t heard from him in five years. She’s surprised he's home on a Saturday night, and Dexter almost tells her he’s married with a kid in the suburbs, but he gets embarrassed and decides not to. He suggests meeting up some time, but Suki says that’s probably not a good idea, given that he wasn’t that nice to her or even that faithful to her when they were together.
Suki, who is still out at a party, represents the life that Dexter left behind when he married Sylvie. By calling her, Dexter tries to reconnect with this past, which shows how much his current present as a father in the suburbs has left him unsatisfied. During the call, Dexter shows a lack of self-awareness, forgetting that Suki might not have good feelings toward him due to how things ended between them.
Themes
Dexter and Suki continue to argue while Jasmine cries in the background. Eventually Dexter hangs up and deletes her number. He grabs some milk, takes his wine with him, and goes to Jasmine’s room, telling her to shut up. She won’t stop crying and he panics, then gives her some medicine that is supposed to cause drowsiness. He tries playing her various music to entertain her. In his CDs, he finds one Emma sent him for his 35th birthday. Inside, it has a picture of them at Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, the day after graduation. Emma is Jasmine’s godmother.
Dexter’s increased drinking shows his desperation and seems to lead him to make reckless parenting decisions, like giving Jasmine medicine that she doesn’t need in order to make her sleep better. Arthur’s Seat is one of the main landmarks in Edinburgh. The picture of Emma recalls Dexter’s old interest in photography, which was perhaps always connected to his deeper desire to try to preserve the past.
Themes
The songs on Emma’s CD, which are the same as an old cassette she made him, make Dexter sentimental, but Jasmine seems to like them. Sylvie calls on Dexter’s cell phone just as “Fight the Power” starts playing. She’s surprised Jasmine is still awake, but he tries hard to act sober. She’s at a hotel room and plans to be back early the next day. Before she hangs up, Dexter says he knows he’s been failing as a husband and a father, but he wants to turn things around. After she hangs up, Dexter finally puts Jasmine to bed.
Emma’s recreation of a cassette on CD shows how, like Dexter, she also gets sentimental about preserving the past. This passage presents Dexter’s side of his conversation with Sylvie, where he concludes that in spite of his drinking, he managed to convince Sylvie that everything was going well with Jasmine. The next passage, however, shows how things went from Sylvie’s side of the conversation.
Themes
Meanwhile, Sylvie is naked in a hotel room with Callum. She says Dexter sounded really drunk, and she worries she should go home. Callum encourages her to stay. He fears she’s going to want to break things off or tell Dexter, but he personally doesn’t want to complicate things and feels that he’s done enough by getting Dexter a job.
This passage makes it clear that Dexter’s acting sober isn’t fooling anyone. Still, this passage also shows Sylvie’s own shortcomings as a parent, as she cheats on Dexter with his friend and ultimately decides to leave Jasmine alone with Dexter despite his drunkenness.
Themes
