How to Age Disgracefully

The Mandel community center is introduced as “a squat, dilapidated-looking carbuncle of a building, nestled among the prettier Victorian houses between King Street and the A4” (21). Past its prime, aging and becoming structurally unsound, as shown by the collapsing ceiling, the center is first a symbol for the bleak future dreaded by the aging protagonists and a metaphor for how each feels their lives are, in some way, coming apart.

The community center also serves as a plot device, providing, through Pauline’s accidental death, the overarching threat of the story: That the center will be torn down and the land sold. The center is likewise the setting that brings the cast of characters together, symbolizing The Importance of Social Bonds. Protecting the community center and ensuring its survival becomes the motivation that unites the gang in their efforts to gain public sympathy and raise money for maintenance and restoration.

The community center evolves to symbolize the glue that holds the characters together, representing their relationships and their willingness to invest in, and protect, those new bonds. By the end, the renovated and restored community center represents the renewed faith that the characters have in themselves, as well as their restored outlooks on life as each of the central four characters looks forward to an enjoyable future.