In Last Orders Swift touches the ideas history, conflicts between generations, and the place of a person in the history, in the larger scale of events. In Last Orders the author considers the nature of the relationship between personal and public histories, and between different generations. The theme of relation between past and present is central in the novel.

In the story time is always changing, and the past is always interweaves with present. The story is told through flashbacks, with different characters remembering different parts of their lives, but throughout, the pub stays exactly the same. While clothes change and hairstyles come and go, the importance of a good pint and great friends does not. When the heroes were younger, they brought their wives and children to meet in the pub. Now when they are older, it becomes an escape from the wives and the loneliness of old age.

Last Orders describes also the past of the Britain. It shows the major historical changes in 20th century Britain: war, the relative prosperity and hope of the post-war years in Europe, and then the declining promise by the dream of the welfare state. On the way to Margate, friends visit war memorials and remember events from their past. Those events are also a part of the national history. Swift tackles ideas of narrative, history, conflicts between the generations, the place of an individual in the larger scale of events. The book implies that the past of one person is also a part of the past of the whole country.

The places along the friends' journey, describe England's noble past. As they continue to travel, the chara

cters remember their personal pasts, and the complex and touching lives of some ordinary folk, full of small triumphs but deep regrets, are brought to light. It becomes clear that the past is composed of a great number of such stories of ordinary people. The friends come to think that they are not special. Jack is not special. The dead are all equal. "There's only one sea.”

While Last Orders is a book about memory, it also explores how the past and present intersect and clash in the struggles between parents and children. The novel includes some social trends among the equivalent of the Baby Boomers in England, such as Jack's disappointment at Vince's unwillingness to carry on the family business, and Ray's heartbreak when his daughter immigrates to Australia. Lenny and Vince represent past, while their daughter—present.

While the book is certainly about looking back and coming to terms with long-held secrets and thorny life choices, it is also, in the end, about looking forward. As a hospitalized Jack advises his buddy Ray, "If you ever get the option, you go first. It's the carrying on that's hard. Ending, it ain't anything.”

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