NIghthawk/Tom's Diner

"in Hopper's paintings there is a lot of waiting going on...They are like characters whose parts have deserted them and now, trapped in the space of their waiting, must keep themselves company."
-- Mark Strand, Hopper

The above quote appears in the "Notes" section of the script.  One of the first parallels I can draw to the script is how after Gordon's death, he was trapped in spaces of Hell, just waiting.  He was waiting for someone to love him the most, and then was waiting in his mother's Hell for her to die.  Additionally, it reminds me of humanity's fear of isolation, and our obsession with our gadgets which keep us at a fingertips length of separation at all time.  When then, do people still feel lonely even when they have the world at their fingertips? Is this digital life not enough? Certainly Jean felt that having a cell phone meant that people became less available. Instead of even making a phone call where we can interact with voices people prefer texting and email to a more personal connection.  Going out with friends is sometimes sharing the silence with the proximity of others while you all text on your phones.  We've become too scared to say things with our voices and far too proud when typing with our fingertips.

The painting above is my favorite Hopper favorite and one that is very popular.  I dissected this painting in art history trying to figure out what it means, but looking at it with new eyes I realize I can interpret it in many ways.  The barista seems like he is about to turn his head to the couple sitting together, and alone is a man.  Isolated.  Outside the town is isolated.  Little light, nothing in the storefront.  Why is it this man is in this diner alone at night? Unable to make a connection to anyone?  Is he dissimilar to Jean, who was trying not to take up space?  Or is he a Gordon, who is jealously eyeing the last bits of lobster bisque the barista is about to hand over to the couple? Is this strange little world where no one exists outside the diner also one where the barista disappears once tragedy strikes and there seems to be no one working there?

A song that reminds me of the play and this particular painting is "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega.  The song is about an isolated man at the diner who longs to make connections with someone else but is ignored. He watches other people connect for just a moment and then returns to his on self-reflection.  He is left with only memories of a time where he felt connected.  Maybe the man in the song, the man in the painting, and Gordon are all those who loved themselves most of all and are left waiting, isolated, unable to connect until someone else reaches out to them first.