Gar’s romantic love for Kate Doogan is another aspect of his past life that he frequently reflects on. She is already married in the real time of the play, so we are unable to tell whether his flashback is an honest depiction of what happened or whether it idealises their relationship.
The flashback shows Gar to be physically infatuated with Kate, he cannot keep his hands off her. He exaggerates his desire by saying, “I’ll never last till Easter! I’ll – I’ll – I’ll bloody well burst!” The stage directions describe how he is “kissing her hair” and “catches her again” while also noting how “she avoids him”. He calls her by a variety of pet names, “my sweet Katie … my darling Kathy…”
It is also significant that at the end of Episode I - in real time and seemingly out of nowhere – he says “Kathy, my own darling Kathy –”.
This shows that despite her marriage to someone else, Kate is still very much on Gar’s mind as he prepares to leave for America.
Gar recalls too when his drunken aunt, Lizzy Sweeney, visited. She is desperate for Gar to come to Philadelphia so she can mother him.
Friel implies that Lizzy and her husband Con were unable to conceive when Lizzy says “we spent a fortune on doctors … but it was no good” and despite “all the love we had in us” they had no one to share their life with in Philadelphia.
It is ironic that Aunt Lizzy is desperate for someone to love, but S.B. communicates so little love to his son.
