1st half of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Charlie Spinale

AP Literature & Composition

8/29/14

Prompt: “Often we can learn a lot about a character through his relationship with another character or characters. Discuss a relationship you see between two characters in Gilead and what that relationship tells you about the characters and the novel as a whole.”

            The common saying that history repeats itself is interconnected with the novel Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. The narrator, John Ames, is seventy-six years old and is the son of John Ames and grandson of John Ames. Not only does his father and grandfather share his name but also his vocation as a minister. Throughout the novel the reader sees how Reverend Ames relationship with his father helps him shape an image for himself. Through Reverend Ames letter he ensures a deep relationship with his own son as well as providing him with an apprehension to the history of their family before his inevitable death.

            The ceaseless idea of history repeating itself is seen in the novel because from the beginning the reader learns that Reverend Ames is living a life generations of his ancestors have lived as a preacher: “My mother’s father was a preacher, and my father’s father was, too, and his father before him, and before that, nobody knows, but I wouldn’t hesitate to guess. That life was second nature to them, just as it is to me” (6, Robinson). In this quote Reverend Ames not only mentions how his entire family of men has been preachers but also that becoming one was “second nature”. This suggests that Reverend Ames had no doubt in his mind that he would become a minster because that is what his father had done and it was almost a natural instinct for him to start a life as one. It is made explicit that Reverend Ames looks up to his father and respects his position. The sheer fact that both men are so involved in religion allows them to share common qualities because they both strive for similar things that any minster would strive for in terms of religious success within their churches and lives. Reverend Ames and his father are not only similar in the sense that they both live religious lives but also the fact that they both cherish the presence of their children: “He was a fine, vigorous man into his old age. We played catch in the evenings after supper for years, till the sun went down and it was too dark for us to see the ball. I think he just appreciated having a child at home, a son. Well, I was a fine, vigorous old man, too, until recently” (17). This quote exhibits how much Reverend Ames enjoyed the time he spent with his father as a child. He describes his father as “vigorous” meaning he was healthy and always energetic. Reverend Ames states he himself was “vigorous” “until recently”. This suggests Reverend Ames feels guilty that he may not be able to share the same experiences he had with his father with his son due to his sickness. This allows the reader a greater comprehension as to why Reverend Ames is writing this letter. The similarities between Reverend Ames and his father are evidently clear. Both are minsters allowing an immediate bond in terms of respect for each other and both raised their children with the similar principles of their ancestors. However, Reverend Ames time teaching his son about the world is being cut short.

               The reader sees how strong of a relationship Reverend Ames has with his father through the stories and memories he shared with him. One of which was when Reverend Ames was twelve years old and went with his father to his grandfather’s grave in Kansas. Reverend Ames refers to this memory with his father as being a time of great joy: “[…] what a sweet strength I felt, in him, and in myself, and all around us. I am glad I didn’t understand, because I have rarely felt joy like that, and assurance. It was like one of those dreams where you’ve filled with some extravagant feeling you might never have in life, it doesn’t matter what it is, even guilt or dread, and you learn from it what an amazing instrument you are, so to speak, what a power you have to experience beyond anything you might ever actually need” (48-49). This quote explains how Reverend Ames felt when he was walking next to his dad the night they visited his grandfather’s grave. Reverend Ames felt “strength” walking besides his father that day. This suggests that his father provided him with the knowledge he needed in his life and the knowledge he would give to his own children. He also felt “joy” and the ability to experience things in life that he may never actually need to experience to feel fulfilled. This suggests that his father provided him with not only joy but the ability to experience life however he wanted even though he was happy with that moment alone. The reader also sees how Reverend Ames’ father influenced his beliefs that kept with him through his adult life. This is the scene on the same day they visit the graveyard and Reverend Ames' father is praying when the full moon began to rise as the sun was setting and the grave and Reverend Ames and his father were exactly between them. Reverend Ames’ father refers to this as something everyone saw not just them suggesting it was not a miracle of any kind: ‘[…] You know, everyone in Kansas saw the same thing we saw’ “[…] Later I realized my father would have meant that the sun and moon aligned themselves as they did with no special reference to the two of us. He never encouraged any talk about visions or miracles, except the ones in the bible” (48). This quote shows how Reverend Ames’ father refused to view that beautiful moment as a miracle. The way Reverend Ames describes the moment suggests he viewed it as a miracle. However, he states “later he realized” that his father meant it was not a miracle. This suggests that “later” in life as he got older he came to realize that miracles did not exist only the ones involving the Bible due to his strong religious beliefs. This shows how much a parent can influence a child because they want to be just like them in every aspect when they grow up.

            Reverend Ames talks about the conflict his father had with his father involving the Civil War. Revered Ames’ discusses how his father told him about his father’s church and how it was half empty after the war because the only people who stayed were widows, orphans, and mothers who lost their sons. All the graves at the church were new and what killed Reverend Ames’ father the most was how his father preached that all this had a meaningful purpose and it was something that needed to be done: “And there was his father, preaching every Sunday on the divine righteousness manifested in it all” (87). Reverend Ames’ father’s father would walk into church about to give a sermon wearing his bloody shirt and having his pistol on hand and then would preach about how God essentially wanted war. Reverend Ames’ father destroyed the items left behind from his father that involved his beliefs on this. He smashed the pistol and threw it into a lake, essentially, trying to make his guilt of what his father did go away. In telling his son this, Reverend Ames wanted his son to be aware of this to ensure he would not acquire any guilt. Reverend Ames essentially learns from his past ancestors mistakes and wishes to teach his own son what he learned from his experiences. Reverend Ames was aware that his father disrespected his grandfather but he also learned about the mistakes his grandfather made and impressed them upon his son: “He may, so to speak, have been too dazzled by the great light of his experience to realize that an impressive sun shines on us all. Perhaps that is the one thing I wish to tell you. Sometimes the visionary aspect of any particular day comes to you in the memory of it, or it opens to you over time” (91). In this quote Reverend Ames is trying to tell his son that his grandfather had a certain belief about the war and he refused to even look at someone else’s view on it. He is also saying that some visions do not come to you for a while when you have memories of those events. Reverend Ames’ guilt about his father’s disrespect toward his father essentially allows him to teach his son valuable lessons about life.

            Although Reverend Ames recalls some negative aspects of his father’s life and actions he also recalls some of the memories that are most dear to his heart. Throughout the letter, the reader sees that Reverend Ames mentions the story of when his father helped take down a Baptist church several times, suggesting it is an exceedingly important memory of his childhood and father. He remembers how his father broke a piece of a biscuit and fed it to him by hand. He thought of the moment as if his father was giving him communion. It allowed him to feel truly connected to his father in that one loving moment. However, Reverend Ames mentions that his father never placed the bread in his mouth. He just remembers it that way because he wishes his father had placed it there. Since this moment was so important to him he gives his own son a similar experience: “[…] I broke the bread and fed a bit of it to you from my hand, just the way my father would not have done except in memory” (103). This quote shows how Reverend Ames recreated a memory that he wanted his own son to have because it was a moment that he looked back upon with true endearment. This relates to the theme of history repeating itself because Reverend Ames experiences with his father were recreated for his son and tweaked so that his son would not have to experience any regret or guilt that Reverend Ames experienced.

            Throughout the Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, the strong tie between Reverend Ames and his father allows the reader a greater apprehension of their characteristics while at the same time providing an understanding of the novel as a whole. Reverend Ames’ father is viewed as a loving man who sought to teach his son the principles that his own father taught him. He does this by teaching his son the religious beliefs he was taught by his father and so forth. Reverend Ames himself is also a loving man but he does not receive the full benefit of being there to tell his child right from wrong. He sadly, does not receive the benefit of watching his son grow up and have children of his own.  The relationship between Reverend Ames and his father allow the reader to really gain a grasp on Reverend Ames’ character. The reader learns that through this letter, Reverend Ames hopes to teach his son what he otherwise will not be able to teach him after his death. He provides him with similar beloved experiences he had like placing the bread in his son’s mouth for his communion and also provides him with a greater understanding of the world and the negative things that happened in his life so they will not happen in his son’s life. Reverend Ames and his father are both worldly men and that quality must be passed down among the generations as it has always. This letter allows this tradition to continue.  The letter goes to show the true importance of parents and in this case a father. Children come into this world with no one but their parents. So everything they have ever known is something their parents have done or said. It goes to show children grow up with their parents being their true best friends and the worldly knowledge they pass onto their children is immensely vital to the development of the world’s children. 

2nd half of Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Charlie Spinale

AP Literature & Composition

8/12/14

2^nd half of “Charming Billy” prompt: “Though Billy Lynch is the title character of the novel, ‘Charming Billy’ presents several other well-rounded characters. Choose a character other than Billy and discuss the methods the author uses to create him/her. How does your chosen character contribute to the meaning of the novel?”

            In the novel Charming Billy, Alice McDermott develops several well-rounded characters whose lives are influenced and shaped by the title character, Billy Lynch. In spite of the fact that Billy is never able to forget his true love for Eva, he marries Maeve who somewhat allows him to move on with his life. Nevertheless, Billy keeps Eva in his heart as his first and only true love. Throughout the novel the reader sees how McDermott creates Maeve, a woman who deals with several hardships yet still manages to express love for those who truly hurt her. McDermott creates Maeve using indirect and direct characterization and builds an emotional attachment towards her. While McDermott informs the reader of Maeve’s hardships, this relationship is formed towards her out of pity.

            The novel begins with Maeve at the funeral party and the reader later finds out she is the wife of Billy Lynch. The reader’s curiosity of Billy Lynch and his life story allows the reader to also be intrigued by Maeve because at that point she is most likely the closest thing to Billy Lynch’s life. McDermott uses direct characterization to give the reader a first impression of Maeve, describing her as plain in terms of looks and clothing but at the same time this plainness is described as a form of courage: “[…] perhaps inspired by the perfect simplicity of what she wore—that there was a kind of beauty in her ordinary looks, in her plainness. […] but the courage it took to look out onto life from a face as plain as butter: pale, downy skin and bland blue eyes, faded brown hair cut short as a nun’s and dimmed with gray” (5, McDermott). This quote describes Maeve’s clothing and how it was exceptionally simple. Some people thought of this simplicity as a form of beauty while others thought that her simplicity represented courage. This courage is not the courage of a new widow who just lost her husband but the courage of a woman who could still manage to view the world positively while being so bland. McDermott also directly describes Maeve’s looks by pointing out her plain aspects. Her skin is described as “pale” and “downy”, her eyes “bland”, and her hair “faded” and “gray”. All of these aspects of Maeve’s looks and personality are symbolic because Maeve represents something “pale”, “bland”, “faded”, and “gray” suggesting that she is aged and also nothing special and someone who would not be with a man as great as Billy Lynch. To Billy, Maeve was his second option. She was something that could help him think he was moving on with his life when in reality his true love for Eva would endure for the rest of his life.  

            As the story progresses the reader learns more about Eva, the Irish girl Billy had asked to marry. Billy gets a job at Holtzman’s shoe store in order to get money to send to Eva so she can come live in America with him. Billy gets an advance of 500 dollars and immediately sends the money to Eva. Eva, being young and scared of starting her life decides to keep the money and stay in Ireland. She marries, has children, and opens up a gas station/coffee shop.  In order to protect Billy’s innocence, Dennis, Billy’s friend, tells Billy that Eva had died. This lie essentially leads to Billy’s downfall. He uses drinking in order to mend the pain of losing Eva. Maeve and Billy meet at the shoe store and it is immediately noticed that she is in love with Billy and is already thinking about her future with him: “She was the plain one with the father, the one who without him would have become a nun. She was the one who, having chosen this part, must stand steadily by as his future was formed for her” (156). This quote explains Maeve’s life at a glance. She was the bland girl with the drunken father who she had to take care of and she was the one that would have become a nun if it was not for Billy. She also was the one who caught Billy in a vulnerable part of his life. Billy had just lost Eva and he needed someone to help him deal with his pain and move on with his life. Maeve therefore represents a caretaker. She took care of her drunken father her whole life and she has to take care of Billy who is now half the man he was before he lost Eva. Maeve’s will also have to deal with yet another addiction to alcohol.  

            In order to create Maeve, McDermott tells her life story enabling the reader to build an emotional relationship with her. The reader felt sympathy for Maeve right at the beginning of the novel when Billy’s death is made known. The reader later finds out about Maeve’s unpleasant childhood: “Maeve was only eight when her mother died” (154) and her drunken father who she takes care of until his death: “Her father drank most evenings […] And when things got out of hand—when, in his cups, he growled at her or cursed her or waved his arms about as if her love and attention were cobwebs she’d draped around him […]” (155). The first quote states that Maeve’s mother died when she was 8, implying Maeve had to become mature at a very young age in order to care for her father.  In the second quote the reader learns how Maeve’s father is a drunk because of the loss of his wife. However, Maeve still manages to show him love even though his drinking became severe. The reader feels considerable sympathy for Maeve who is being shooed away by her father for showing love yet she still “draped” around him showing him an untold amount of love when he was simply being a cold-hearted drunk.  The fact that Maeve cares for her father who lost his wife foreshadows that she will be caring for Billy who uses drinking as a way to ease his pain of losing Eva. The reader also feels pity for Maeve because it is made well aware that Billy truly does not love Maeve but, rather sought solace and was just waiting to be with Eva: ‘Ever since the night Dennis told him the news, he was waiting to die’ (24).  The reader cannot help but feel downhearted for a woman who loves a man so much yet she is only a second option, the girl who Billy had just happened to meet in the shoe store when he was in need of someone to help mend his wound from his loss of his true love Eva. The reader sees Maeve’s love for Billy through everything she did in order to be with him and the sheer factor that she deals with his drinking for so many years. The reader sees how in love Maeve is with Billy when she destroyed several of her father’s shoes just so she had a reason to go back to the shoe store to see Billy: ‘I threw my father’s shoe down the incinerator’ […] ‘Just to see Billy’ (186). The reader can see how strong Maeve’s feelings are towards Billy if she was willing to just destroy a shoe so she could go see Billy and maybe exchange a few words with him. McDermott’s ability to build a strong emotional relationship between her characters and the reader allows the characters to become fully developed and hence understood.  Without a background on Maeve’s life the reader would not feel emotional attached to her.

            Maeve’s willingness to love Billy even after everything he put her through exhibits how she does not give up on a life that she hoped would turn around for the best. McDermott shows in detail the struggles Maeve went through in her daily routine with Billy in order to create her as a character that was capable of loving someone that caused heartache every day.  Once again the reader sees Maeve as the victim with the struggles she goes through with Billy: “[…] a thousand and one moments she would never recount, things he had said to her, terrible things he had done, ways she had seen him (toothless, incoherent, half-clothed, bloodied, soiled, weeping) […] And the next thing she knew he had her by the throat” (182-183). This quote explicates how Maeve had to deal with Billy the way most people have to deal with alcoholics. The pain Maeve faced because of Billy’s drinking and things he did and said were things that she did not have the strength of repeating. The reader sees this as an emerging pattern because first she had to deal with her father’s drinking and now Billy’s. Both contained abuse, in Billy’s case physical abuse. One night when he was drunk and she called his name so he would go to bed he ignored her. She told him Dennis would not come and he too had had enough of him. All of a sudden Billy grabbed her by her throat and then after a few seconds he began crying at her feet. This symbolizes Billy’s struggle. As much as he just wanted a life with Eva he could not get it. One minute he is strangling Maeve and the next minute he is crying at her feet because he is well aware he needs her and she is his only way of attempting to cope with his loss and move on.  Maeve’s hopes in fixing the people she loved never turned out as she planned. She could never fix her father’s drinking problem and she could never essentially fix Billy’s or his ceaseless idea of keeping Eva in his heart as his only true love. This point is emphasized through Billy’s friend Dennis who describes Maeve’s faults: ‘Maeve made the same mistake we all did, Dan. She not only put up with him, she hoped he was right, in all his strange notions. 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’ (224). This quote shows that Maeve made the same mistake all Billy’s family and friends made. They all put up with his drinking and never really put their feet down properly to stop him. She also hoped he was right with every idea he had about the world around him. She wanted it to turn out how he said it would turn out. But it never did because Billy is unrealistic as a character. He strives to high for things that will never happen and will just leave him in pain his entire life, and that’s exactly what happened to Billy Lynch because he could never erase Eva from his mind. Maeve, in hopes that her persistent help and endearment towards Billy’s drinking would show him that she really cared and loved him and would make him realize he needed to stop drinking never worked. She could not conjure up enough love for Billy to give him a reason to stop drinking; she could not conjure up enough love to show him that she truly loved him because Billy unrealistically kept the fact locked in his mind that Eva was his only love.

            Maeve’s loving character is pivotal to the novel, Charming Billy. Maeve provides Billy and her father, two men who cope with their losses with alcohol, with unconditional love. In today’s society some people give up on their loved ones realizing some things cannot change about them but Maeve never gives up. She fights to the end for Billy hoping he will change but he dies with Eva still being his only true love in his heart and as an alcoholic. Essentially, Maeve fails because Billy never changes. The novel shows how different certain personalities can be. Maeve is hopeful for change, while Billy is unrealistic and sticks to a love he had for a girl that he only spent a small portion of his life with. The novel ends with an unexpected twist: “They were married in March of 1991, my father and Maeve” (280). This indicated Dennis and Maeve got married later in their lives after both had lost their loved ones. This shows that death can bring new life and change. Although Dennis loses his wife and Maeve loses Billy, they both represent characters that are strong, prudent, and capable of moving on with their lives. Billy and Maeve both shared a deep love for Billy and a need to protect him and care for him all those nights they spent dragging him to his bed. The novel goes to show that just because something ends tragically it does not mean it cannot begin again beautifully at a different point in life. Maeve’s character manifests how deceiving first impressions can truly be. The reader first sees Maeve as this bland woman in terms of her features and clothing, but most of the world is bland in one way or another. It is just that most choose to cover up their blandness with nice clothing and other things that change their natural appearance. Maeve was never bland at all, she had bland features like everyone else but she chose to not hide any of her blandness because she never thought she would be loved. Maeve was always the one showing love and caring for her drunken husband and father. Maeve was viewed as the plainest character in the novel. But, deep down Maeve was the most elaborate, acquiring love after so many years of fighting for it at an age when most people would be telling their life story not creating a new one.