What is the back door to Bailey's Cafe?

The back door of Bailey's Cafe opens to infinity or death—not a real, physical location in the world. Naylor says,


There is nothing in back of this cafe. Since the place sits right on the margin between the edge of the world and infinite possibility, the back door opens out to a void. It takes courage to turn the knob and heart to leave the steps.


The cafe is a space for people who need a place to rest, cope, or deal with problems in their life. The back door is a step beyond that space; it gives someone a different way to solve their problems. Whether that's working out issues in the void or choosing to accept death is likely up to the person who opens the door and steps out of the cafe. If a person goes into the void, they can recreate places and scenes from their life there.

The meaning of the back door to Bailey's Cafe depends on the individual. As the back door represents a void, people can make of it what they will. If someone has achieved redemption through their time in the limbo of the cafe, then they can walk right through that door into a whole new life. On the other hand, if they still feel that life has no meaning for them, then by stepping into the void they will be choosing death.
Bailey's Cafe "sits right on the margin between the edge of the world and infinite possibility," and so its back door represents the existential choice that each individual must make in how they are to live their lives. All those who visit the cafe are at a crossroads in their lives. The back door void acts as a reminder that whatever path they choose to take is their decision alone, an inevitable consequence of the radical freedom that each and every one of us has.

The backdoor at Bailey's Café leads to a void-like space that symbolizes death. In a passage describing the back door, the narrator explains that there "is nothing in back of [the] café. Since the place sits right on the margin between the edge of the world and infinite possibility, the back door opens out to a void" (76). When thinking of the void that exists through the back door of the café, we can also think of the café itself as a purgatory or a pre-death experience, in which the characters await their uncertain futures. The void exists to allow the characters to ultimately end their lives or to revisit past scenes from their lives in order to continue living. Since the café hangs on the edge of infinity, the void that exists beyond the café symbolizes infinite death and the greater unknown. Bailey's Café itself is physically located on the same "street" as Gabe’s Pawnshop and Eve’s Boardinghouse and Garden, both of which act as similar waiting spaces for other wandering characters, though it isn't made entirely clear whether or not these other locations contain similar voids to that of Bailey's.