The Chaser

The relationship between the proprietor and the young man is representative of the authority of old age over youth, as told by an author entering his sixth decade of life. It is not an effusive or communicative relationship, however. Alan can barely express his fundamental needs, mixing up a desire for sex with a desire for companionship. Presumably, this inability to communicate extends to his life outside of the shop, as well, thus bringing him to a shop that sells quick-fix love potions.

In a healthy meeting of innocence and experience, the older man would pass along what he has learned about erotic confusion before communicating lessons in empathy and conversational tactics that would help the young man grow and achieve confidence. The world Collier paints is not that world, however. We know little about the older man because he gives very little of himself away. Like his room, his speech is austere, only going beyond mere grunting when developing a line of well-worn marketing patter. His purpose is to extract value from a weak member of the pack, using age and experience as weapons. In this, too, there is a little bit of triumph. The older man may not have the same access he once had to parties and youthful misadventure, and his exploitation of a stray member of this cohort may act as a shallow triumph in the face of the disappointments of encroaching mortality.