54 pages • 1 hour read
Bernardine EvaristoMr Loverman
Bernardine EvaristoFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 13-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary: “Song of Power (2000)”
Carmel is promoted to management and must train new recruits at the Hackney Council. During training, she emphasizes all the difficult people that the new employees will need to deal with. She misses how Rueben used to blame all these difficulties on the system of capitalism rather than on the people themselves, even though she completely disagrees.
Carmel’s affair with Rueben lasted for five years. The affair moved from the office to Rueben’s apartment, which Carmel eventually decorated to her taste. The sex also became more involved, with lingerie and toys, and Carmel did things she never imagined she’d do before. Even though she knew God was watching, she reasoned that all the churchgoers were hypocrites anyway. Nevertheless, Carmel could not commit to Rueben and ruin her marriage because she believes marriage is a holy promise to God. After five years, Rueben finally insisted that she must let him move on: He was lonely and she wouldn’t commit. Shortly after the breakup, she stalked the space outside his house but never tried to interact with him. Around the same time, Barry proposed a divorce. This was when she responded violently, wielding a knife at him.
After the breakup, Carmel intensified her churchgoing and kept praying for forgiveness for her adultery. She feels no regret, however, as the five-year affair constituted the best five years of her life. Because she does not truly feel remorseful, she believes that she could be damned forever.
Chapter 14 Summary: “The Art of Being So-Called (2010)”
Barry is waiting on Morris to open his front door at 7:00 a.m. so that he can apologize. As he stands there, Maxine calls to ask him how he’s feeling after coming out to her the day before. Maxine reveals that Carmel has extended her stay in Antigua, as she has been enjoying her stay at Odette’s spa. This causes Barry to worry, as Odette caught Morris cheating with Barry.
Morris, in only his robe, finally lets Barry in and accepts his apology. Barry and Morris make love, and Barry puts on Shabba Rank’s “Mr. Loverman” despite Barry recognizing Rank’s “homophobia.” After sex, Barry tells Morris how grateful he is for him, and he recounts the stressful events of the last two weeks of Morris’s absence. Barry omits details regarding Donna spotting him at the cemetery. Morris reflects on Barry’s confrontation with Daniel and says that he probably would never be able to see his own grandchildren again if he came out himself. Morris makes Barry promise again that he will divorce Carmel as soon as she returns.
Maxine takes Barry and Morris to bars in Soho, a part of London that is a safe environment for the LGBT community. Barry is surprised that the gay men are not dressed more extravagantly. He realizes that it’s he and Morris who stand out due to their 1950s-style suits. Barry notices that everyone can likely tell that he is romantically involved with Morris. He wishes he could hold Morris’s hand, as he had never shared a public display of affection with his lifelong lover, but he’s not brave enough. Morris grabs Barry’s hand himself.
Barry and Morris meet Maxine’s friends, Pierre, Marcus, and Lola. Barry talks with Lola, a Nigerian doctorate student who is researching LGBT history in Africa. Lola argues that “[i]t’s homophobia, not homosexuality, that was imported to Africa” (177). Lola also shares his coming-out story with Barry and Morris; his father responded that he should be tortured and killed, and his own brother assaulted him. Morris and Barry tell him he’s a hero for coming out, noting how few Black men are in the gay bar.
Before going home, Barry announces that he is about to leave his wife of 50 years and that she might attack him or herself with a knife. He pulls Maxine aside to further discuss the divorce with her, as she previously disapproved of the idea.
Chapter 15 Summary: “The Art of Taking Care of Business (Thursday, May 27, 2010)”
Barry reads Maxine’s business plan, which she gave him the night they went out. The plan makes both Barry and Morris laugh. It contains many lavish and seemingly unnecessary expenses, such as top-range sound systems and international travel to multiple countries. Added on to that, Maxine includes many jokes, such as a demand for “[h]unky […] escorts.”
Barry tells Maxine that the business plan will not suffice, and she argues that he should not expect something more organized from her, as she is a creative. Barry insists that as he is the sole investor, he needs her to be more organized: He will hire an experienced business manager whom she will have to report to. This upsets Maxine, as she is at a point in her life where she wants to be her own boss. Barry, however, argues that he has built a successful business empire himself and that she should trust him.
After a full week of waiting, Barry has not heard from either Carmel or Donna. Barry receives continuing support from Maxine and her friends and still plans to come out to his wife. Morris stays over at Barry’s house while they await Carmel’s return, and they both feel guilty about sharing the bed that Barry and Carmel have shared for 50 years. They get a taste of their future life together as they fall into routines such as Morris making breakfast every morning. After breakfast, they typically read together—books recommended by Lola, to aid them in their coming-out journey.
Chapters 13-15 Analysis
The affair with Reuben signifies a time of sexual liberation for Carmel, as she finally gets to explore her own desires in a way that her relationship with Barry, as well as her own religious beliefs, previously disallowed. This opens her eyes to the church’s hypocrisy: She acknowledges her belief that God is watching her but argues that she is no more hypocritical than “Pastor George, who was a secret homosicksical” (238). This misspelling of the word “homosexual” implies her belief that gayness is an illness that needs to be cured. Although Carmel now sees through the church’s moral preachings, she holds on to her deep-rooted anti-gay bias.
Further, while Carmel’s faith in her particular church wavers, her religious beliefs remain ingrained. Throughout the affair, she remains devoted to her marriage with Barry, believing that it is a vow made to God. When Reuben gives her an ultimatum, she chooses her religious convictions over her own happiness. Her religion (or her interpretation of it) causes her to deny her true desires once again, and this confluence of Deception, Desire, and the Repression of Emotional Truths recontextualizes her violent response to Barry’s initial suggestion of divorce. Because Barry is voicing what Carmel herself wants but has resigned herself to doing without, she must reject the suggestion all the more emphatically. Though it does not excuse Carmel’s abusive behavior, Chapter 13 therefore continues the trend of humanizing her.
Chapter 9 features further evidence of normalized anti-gay bias when Barry and Morris talk about how their grandchildren won’t accept their orientation: Even third-generation immigrants raised in London hold prejudiced views. However, Barry has begun to push back against such opinions, as evidenced by the way he talks about popular Jamaican dancehall artist Shabba Ranks. Barry narrates that although “Ranks might spout homophobic doggerel,” his song “Mr. Loverman” (after which the novel is titled) is a “perfect wine an grine theme tune” (246). “Mr. Loverman” is the song Barry and Morris like to play when they have sex. In doing so, they are subverting the use of a heteronormative song by an anti-gay artist to support their own sexual expression.
This section of the novel also explores allyship and support inside the LGBT community, developing the theme of The Importance of Community to Marginalized People. Maxine supports Barry and Morris’s relationship by introducing them to LGBT safe spaces and a community of gay men. Just as Caribbean immigrants rely on community to get by as newcomers to London often targeted for racist abuse, the novel suggests that members of the LGBT community need to look out for each other to compensate for societal neglect and mistreatment. Within the LGBT-friendly space, Barry is made to confront his own anti-gay misconceptions and biases. He expects other gay men to be flamboyant, but those he sees simply resemble the men he sees every day; ironically, he stands out the most due to his older, flashier style of dress. Barry and Morris also grow in their relationship as the safe space allows them their first public displays of affection and they come out to even more people.
The importance of community is especially evident in the support that Maxine’s friends provide Barry and Morris. Lola educates the pair on the intersections between race and orientation, and Barry and Morris in turn recognize Lola’s bravery as an out Black men. Lola affirms that he shares their experience of Anti-Gay Bias, Violence, and the Fear of Coming Out by sharing the story of how his own father and brother responded to his orientation with extreme violence. Lola’s story further reinforces the danger of being gay in a heteronormative society.
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