Camille Mihalchik
AP Literature
August 8, 2014
To enhance a character in the eyes
of the reader, authors use methods associated with emotion in order to connect
the reader with the book overall, but most specifically, the characters and the
personal aspects. Billy Lynch, the title character, is an important character
in the novel Charming Billy written
by Alice McDermott, although there are also other main characters. Maeve Lynch
is originally portrayed as newly widowed and quiet upset. Throughout the novel,
the author takes the reader back to the death of Maeve’s mother, the fiascos
between Maeve’s drunken father and husband, and her position in her
relationship. Due to a lie in hopes to help someone, Maeve’s life continued to
be a life where she was continuously obligated to help others.
Before Maeve came along, Billy was
in love with a girl named Eva who was from Ireland. Throughout Maeve and
Billy’s relationship and marriage, Eva and the past secretly had a lot to do
with the way that Billy acted, therefore creating inconvenience for Maeve.
Ironically, Maeve and Billy met at the shoe store, which Billy worked at, in
order to pay back the money that he borrowed from his boss and gave to Eva, so
that she could come to America and marry him. For Billy, this was the start of
all his problems; Eva stayed in Ireland, married, had children, and used the
money to open up her own café. To protect Billy, his friend Dennis told him
that Eva had died. This seemingly innocent and helpful lie to protect his
friend ultimately ruined his friend and Maeve.
Although Billy was fully committed to Maeve once they got
married, Maeve was always the second girl in Billy’s heart. Eva would always be
his first and that’s the way he felt, he would never be changed. In a conversation
with Dennis, Billy’s best man, Dan Lynch stated, “They’re loyal to the first
plans they made- just like Billy was loyal to Holtzman and the job he gave him.
And like he would have been loyal to her if she had lived and come back here
and they’d gotten married. Just like he was loyal to Maeve: Billy never
breathed another word about that girl after he married Maeve. But the girl was
first, and for Billy she would always be first. That’s the kind of guy he was.
Maeve couldn’t change him” (McDermott 21). This passage explains Maeve and
Billy’s relationship in the sense that Maeve was fully committed to Billy.
Billy acted in a way showing that he could reciprocate the same feelings, but
in his heart, he could not. Through the emotion that Alice McDermott created in
Billy and Maeve’s relationship, Maeve was able to become an central character
who was blinded by her own husband and his true feelings.
Maeve’s life consisted of taking
care of the two most important men in her life. After the death of Maeve’s mom,
her life changed forever. Her dad started to drink alcohol and became addicted.
Maeve then went on to meet Billy, a man who was already an alcoholic. The “death” of Billy’s first love, Eva,
caused Billy to start his new addiction. The narrator explained Billy as having
an “irreparably broken heart.” Through deaths dealt by Maeve’s father and
Billy, it is shown that death creates the need to drink, as if the drinking
erases all problems that one might have.
Although, what is actually shown through these deaths is that as family
members start to drink, they actually cause more problems for others, as if it
is a domino effect. Unfortunately, through blood and marriage, Maeve was
obligated to deal with adversity. In a conversation after the death of Billy, one
of his sisters Kate stated,“‘ Toward the end it was a foregone conclusion,’
Kate said. ‘I think it was worse for her at the beginning, when she has her
father and her husband to keep track of” (12). Maeve dealt with the problems
associated with her fathers and her husband’s problems, such as getting them
off of the streets, changed, and in bed. Although Maeve was practically
obligated through blood and marriage, there was love that encouraged her to
help each in every time. After Billy’s death, Billy’s best friends, Dennis, was
talking about Maeve and stated, “She hoped the world would somehow turn out to
be just the way he believed it to be. She hoped somehow that he’d turn out to
be right in the end, with all his hanging on to the past. All his loyalty to
the dead. Even if it meant she’d have no life of her own” (194). Maeve loved
Billy immensely, making it hard for her to not help him. She believed that if
she constantly helped him, he might turn out okay, even if that meant that she
had to give up her life for him. Through these tough tasks and dealing with
drunken, grown men, the reader is able to understand how Maeve loved and had a
significant part in these peoples lives, especially Billy’s as his family and
friends dealt with his death. Through the emotion created throughout the book,
the reader is able to connect and sympathize with Maeve and the problems that
she encountered.
Billy’s drinking at night had a
routine, in which Maeve was an important part of. Billy would drink while
walking the streets late at night with his dog. Maeve would then find him
stumbling inside, giving the dog a treat, where Maeve would then have to help
him up the stairs for bed and warm up her kettle. After Billy’s funeral,
Billy’s family and friends gathered at his house while Maeve took a nap
upstairs. Their dog was still alive, so Dennis took her out for walk. Upon
returning to the house, Maeve came downstairs, “She looked around the room, her
eyes weak. ‘I was just getting up,’ she said. ‘I hadn’t put the light on yet.’
Now she had put her fingertips to her forehead and lowered her eyes. ‘I thought
Billy was down here with the dog’” (144). Through this passage and
conversation, Alice McDermott is able to show to the reader how Maeve was used
to her routine with Billy. Upon going downstairs, Maeve was expecting Billy,
not a group of his family and friends. Maeve was in denial about Billy’s death
and thought that it was all a dream. Maeve shows how hard it is to experience a
death and what a normal routine is like without the person who made it so
difficult and structured.
Love is a feeling that Maeve’s life
was revolved around. Alice McDermott used this feeling of love and emotion to
capture the true characteristics of Maeve, so that the reader is able to
personally connect to her character. Through Maeve’s life, her father, and her
relationship, Maeve encountered many hardships, proving how strong she truly
was. Most of Maeve’s problems were caused by alcohol and death. Although Maeve
had difficulty taking care of her father, she had the most difficulty taking
care of her husband, Billy. Alice McDermott shows through Charming Billy that lies where one friend or family hopes to help
the other can cause problems, despite the good intentions. For Dennis, all he
hoped to do was help Billy. Ultimately, Billy tried to fix his problems with
alcohol, which then created problems for Maeve. Maeve’s strong and loving
character shows that you have to support and help the ones you love because
sometimes, people cannot be changed. After Billy’s funeral, Dan Lynch stated, “Maeve
couldn’t change him” (21).
No comments:
Post a Comment