Charming Billy Blog 3 July 30, 2014

Prompt: "One of an author's goals at the beginning of a novel is to fully engage her reader. Select a passage from the first half of "Charming Billy" that you found particularly interesting and explain how you think it contributes to engaging the reader in the novel."


                                                                                                                      Camille Mihalchik
                                                                                                                      AP Literature
                                                                                                                      July 30, 2014

During a time of death and sorrow, many families and friends choose to temporarily forget all of the problems and bad decisions that the particular deceased person has done, such as drink alcohol incessantly, and they choose to focus on the lovable characteristics and good times shared with the deceased, but for Billy, that was not the case. In the very beginning of Charming Billy, written by Alice McDermott, Billy’s family and friends are shown to the reader directly after his funeral, discussing the very good things in Billy’s life and how Billy’s character had a significant impact on theirs, along with all of the bad decisions that Billy made and how their love for him made them tolerate his actions in order to help him. Through the constant discussion between family and friends about Billy and the legacy that he left behind, Alice McDermott is able to engage the reader in an extremely critical point in the book.

“Billy had drunk himself to death. He had, at some point, ripped apart, plowed through, as alcoholics tend to do, the great, deep, tightly woven fabric of affection that was some part of the emotional life, the life of love, of everyone in the room.

Everyone loved him. It was Mickey Quinn saying this, down at my end of the table. Mickey Quinn, who also worked for Con Ed, his territory being here in the Bronx, although he’d never heard of this place before. Mickey with a beer in his hand, and the irony either lost on him or too obvious even to bear mentioning. ‘If you knew Billy at all,’ he said, ‘then you loved him. He was just that type of guy.’

And if you loved him, we all knew, you pleaded with him at some point. Or you drove him to AA, waited outside the church till the meeting was over, and drove him home again. Or you advanced him whatever you could afford so he could travel to Ireland to take the pledge. If you loved him, you took his car keys away, took his incoherent phone calls after midnight. You banished him from your house until he could show up sober. You saw the bloodied scraps of flesh he coughed up into his drinks. If you loved him, then you told him at some point that he was killing himself and felt the way his indifference ripped through your affection. You left work early to identify his body at the VA, and instead of being grateful that the ordeal was at long last over, you felt a momentary surge of joy as you turned away: This was not Billy, it was some colored man” (McDermott 4).

            Literary devices become very significant for an author, when attempting to engage their audience and creating and interesting and lovable book. “Love” is a strong word, which Billy’s family used seriously. Through Alice McDermott’s diction in this passage, the word “love” serves as a way for the reader to feel emotion. It not only shows the reader how it was like to be a part of Billy’s life, but it allows the reader to feel emotionally connected to the story. Through the use of diction and the emotions attached, Alice McDermott creates a need for her audience to continue reading, almost as if they too, were a part of Billy’s core family and friends.

In the last paragraph of the passage, Alice McDermott chooses to list off many of the things that Billy’s family and friends dealt with, such as driving him to his AA meetings or watching him cough up flesh into his drinks. The list of hardships is Alice McDermott’s way to include syntax, which ultimately engages the reader, making the reader feel they were a sitting at that table after the funeral, contributing in the conversation to the things that they helped Billy with. Through these hardships that Billy’s family and friends endured while attempting to heal him, Alice McDermott is able to show the reader just how strong, encouraging, and important these people were, proving their constant point on how great Billy was able to love other people and how he was able to be loved by others.

Authors often use specific passages in their novels to engage their audience, creating a book that is not only enjoyable, but also intellectually stimulating. As a whole, this particular passage serves as a pivotal point in Charming Billy, where Alice McDermott is able to engage her audience. This passage, which contains a discussion, creates the need and want for the reader to continue searching for the answer to their questions about the life of Billy, along with his family and friends.