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Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes.
Infrastructure
The one constant among the fragmented vignettes of the novel is the hum of a city always in motion. Ships are coming into the harbor, carrying either contraband or honestly gotten goods. Trains roar overhead and buses and taxicabs careen down the streets. Connecting Manhattan to often-visited Brooklyn is the Brooklyn Bridge. It is never the focus of a vignette, but it is highlighted when Bud Korpenning ends his life by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. Different types of infrastructure are omnipresent in every character’s story throughout Manhattan Transfer. They either ride mass transit or rely on waterways for their livelihood. The novel also takes place at a time in New York City when there is the promise of ever-growing skyscrapers. These hold the particular fascination of architect Phil Sandbourne and the ill-fated Stan Emery, who planned to become an architect. On the morning that he takes his own life, Stan sits on a bench, looks at the Manhattan skyline, and wishes he was a skyscraper. The city’s infrastructure weaves its way into and informs the lives of every citizen.
Grit and Soot
On the surface, Manhattan is a glamorous, affluent city. Just under this shiny veneer is a metropolis under constant construction, making it a dirty, gritty place. Even as a young boy, Jimmy is turned off by the dirtiness of the city, foreshadowing the discomfort he will feel living there as an adult. Beyond the constant work being done across the city, the ubiquitous grit and soot remind the characters that the city is not their friend. Often, they have to bear down against it as they trudge down the street with a gritty wind blowing in their faces. Even Ellen, who lives in New York’s upper class during most of the novel, is plagued by the dirt that swirls around her as she exits taxicabs and walks the city streets. Living in a city that constantly blows grit in their faces makes the characters tough and hardened and, in some cases, drives them away.
Alcohol
All of the characters in Manhattan Transfer drink, but they all have different experiences and relationships with alcohol. Some characters, such as Stan and Joe Harland, have an addiction that leads to their downfall. It’s an addiction that everyone around them can see, but neither one admits to the role that alcohol plays in their demise. Ellen and Jimmy drink socially but remain in control, rarely becoming intoxicated. Jimmy is unique in that there are times when he consciously chooses not to drink very much because he enjoys observing others when they do. There are certain other times, however, when Ellen and Jimmy use alcohol to numb the pain they feel. One instance of imbibing to forget their circumstances is when they return from Europe as an unhappy married couple. From Congo’s point of view, alcohol treats him well and makes him an unlikely financial and social success when he becomes a bootlegger during prohibition. Alcohol becomes no less universal when Prohibition comes to New York. Even the characters who are not addicted to it only find new ways to imbibe, whether at speakeasies or by hiding alcohol in a hot water bottle. So closely entwined with the culture of the New York to which these characters belong, alcohol is not something they are willing to go without.
