Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Gordon believes he has genuine literary talent and views his advertising work as creatively soul-crushing. He sees the advertising world as shallow and bourgeois, representing everything he despises about commercial society. Quitting his job is his attempt to pursue meaningful artistic expression rather than simply earning a paycheck.

Earlier scenes show Gordon openly mocking his colleagues and clients at the advertising firm, hinting at his growing disdain for the industry.

Rosemary stops because they have no contraception and she is practical about the consequences of sexual activity. While Gordon is spontaneous and impulsive, Rosemary carefully considers the potential outcomes and refuses to risk an unplanned pregnancy or relationship disruption.

This moment establishes Rosemary as the practical counterpart to Gordon's idealism throughout the film.

After receiving the $50 check from the California magazine, Gordon celebrates by taking Rosemary and his friend Ravelston to an expensive dinner. He drinks heavily, then continues drinking at a pub, eventually passing out in public. The exact details of the arrest aren't fully explained, but it involves public intoxication and the incident becomes scandalous enough to appear in newspapers.

Gordon's tendency to overindulge is hinted at when he orders excessive amounts of wine during dinner.

When Rosemary reveals her pregnancy, Gordon faces a choice between leaving her to avoid social stigma or accepting middle-class respectability. After reading medical texts about pregnancy and childbirth, he feels a sense of responsibility toward his unborn child. He abandons his poetry and returns to the New Albion advertising agency to provide financial security for his family.

This decision directly contrasts with Gordon's earlier rejection of bourgeois values, showing how pregnancy forces him to confront his contradictions.

Gordon plagiarizes the work of famous poets for a high-profile advertising campaign, creating copy that sounds literary and elevated. This ironic act represents his complete surrender to commercialism, he uses the very artistic abilities he claimed to value purely for financial gain. The campaign succeeds dramatically, signaling his talent remains intact but is now deployed entirely in service of commerce.

This betrayal of his stated artistic principles was foreshadowed when he abandoned his poetry to return to advertising without resistance.

The ending is deliberately bittersweet. Gordon and Rosemary marry, buy a home, and achieve the stable middle-class life Rosemary once feared they'd never have. However, this comes at the cost of Gordon's artistic dreams. He has compromise and accepted the very bourgeois existence he once scorned. The film suggests they find genuine contentment, but it's a pragmatic happiness born from resignation rather than true fulfillment.

The title's aspidistra (a sturdy houseplant symbolizing middle-class respectability) was mentioned throughout as the very thing Gordon despised.

Rosemary ends the relationship because Gordon's arrest and public downfall represent the final straw after months of his reckless behavior. His drinking, financial irresponsibility, and refusal to provide any stability have exhausted her patience. The scandal in the newspapers compounds the shame, making reconciliation impossible at that moment.

Rosemary had consistently urged Gordon to be more practical throughout the film, and his arrest confirms her worst fears about his instability.

Despite the squalid conditions of his room in Lambeth and the meager pay from the bookstore, Gordon feels liberated in his bohemian existence. He sees himself as a true artist, uncompromised by commercial concerns. The poverty is almost romantic to him, a badge of authenticity rather than a failure. This freedom is what he prioritizes over security with Rosemary at that point in the story.

Gordon's disdain for bourgeois values was established early, and he openly mocks his landlady Mrs Wisbeach and her customers.

Ravelston is Gordon's wealthy publisher friend who represents the idealisticbourgeois, he has money but genuinely believes in art and literature. He helps Gordon by paying his fine after the arrest and arranging the bookstore job. However, Ravelston's help keeps Gordon afloat without ever enabling him to truly succeed as a poet, creating an uncomfortable dependency.

Ravelston's dinner with Gordon and Rosemary early on shows his dual nature, he's sympathetic to art but removed from its practical struggles.

The aspidistra, a hardy houseplant commonly found in Victorian and Edwardian homes, symbolizes conventional middle-class respectability and domestic stability. Gordon famously despises it as a representation of everything boring and bourgeois. His journey comes full circle when he eventually embraces the very life the aspidistra represents, making the title deeply ironic.

The plant is mentioned in Gordon's critiques of bourgeois values early in the film.