Charming Billy by Alice McDermott: Book Review

Love - Dennis's Mother (Sheila): "There was a laundry list of reasons why she had married again and not one of them had anything to do with love... love was an easy thing to do without." Page 109

Faith - Billy: "For Billy, it was sustenance. Even the churches and synagogues themselves provided sustenance... The number and variety of them sustained him. The sense that in every town up to the Bronx and out to Staten Island and even far into New Jersey, the need for faith, for that which was steadfast and true, had given rise to holy places." Page 111

Redemption - Dennis: "Unable, he told me the night of Billy's funeral... utterly unable, he said to convince himself that the attention he had given her in that last year, the closeness they had felt, the assurance they had had achieved something exclusive, something redemptive in the endurance of their love, had been any more than another well intentioned deception..." Page 211

In her novel, Charming Billy, Alice McDermott uses moments of reflection and thought in her characters to portray her beliefs about love, faith and redemption. Through Dennis's mom, Sheila, she shows that although there is a very noble, loyal side of love (which Billy exudes), love also has a very false, greedy and materialistic aspect. McDermott shows Billy having a crisis of faith and understand and his actions and thoughts portray a view of faith as simply something to sustain ones self rather than having to produce answers from internal reflection and thought. Finally, Dennis's reflections on the love of his wife, and their relationship, shows that McDermott hopes that somehow one can be saved (redeemed) through true love.

Dennis's mother, Sheila decides to remarry after Dennis's father dies, but after she married Mr. Holtzman, she sent Dennis a "laundry list of reasons why she had again." McDermott goes on to say none of the reasons involved love. Having the list be described as a laundry list makes it seem very trite and unimportant. Also, sending a list of reasons makes her marriage, an act that is supposed to be conceived of love, shows that marriage happens for self-benefit and for calculated reasons. McDermott goes on to say that "love is an easy thing to go without." This implies that love is simply an accessory to living, but by no means needed or helpful. By comparing the reasons for love and marriage to a very common laundry list, McDermott shows that Sheila's approach to love is very common and often practiced. This pessimistic view of love is contrasted with Billy's undying devotion to the memory of Eva; a love that is called a "sweet romance" (page 194) to show that is was beyond the normal scope of relationships. By making Billy's love for Eva seem like a fairy-tale love, and having Sheila's marriage with Mr. Holtzman seem so normal and simple, McDermott shows her belief that a large portion of marriages are not conceived of love as they should be but of practicality and for person benefit.

In Charming Billy, Billy has a crisis of faith after Dennis tells him that Eva died. He goes through the entire area visiting nearly every house of worship for multiple faiths. Billy uses these visits as "sustenance," as something to support him in his grief and confusion. Religions are supposed to give answers to great question in life and many people have faith in these, Billy needed to feel this faith in others and see how so many people had faith so that he could have his own faith. Billy needed to believe that there was some reason, some explanation for Eva's premature death, for the loss of his hopes, dreams and love. He saw that others had faith, and this allowed him to see that there must be some reasons even if he could not understand them. He could not explain or rationalize what had happened to himself and therefore needed to use faith. McDermott uses Billy to show that for some faith is simply a tool to explain things that people cannot rationalize themselves. Faith is shown to be simply a tool to use to help internal conflict rather than a device of dedication to spirituality and religious belief.

Dennis's relationship with his wife seemed to lack love until the final year of his wife's life. In the last year they became very close and tried to make up for all of the previous years. He hoped that the final closeness between him and his wife was more than something forced; he hoped that it was genuine and redeemed all the years of false love. McDermott uses the word "deception" to show that redemption is difficult to attain; you cannot do something and just assume it redeems the past, it needs to have enough value to repay what came before. Dennis though it might be just a "deception" and not true redemption because he did not know if he had done enough in that last year to compensate for years of his relationship with Claire. McDermott shows through Dennis's contemplations that redemption is difficult to attain, and that you need to be very sincere and true in order to achieve redemption.

Through moments of thought in Charming Billy, Alice McDermott shows her opinions on love, faith and redemption. She shows that they are positive, but difficult to hold true and often misused or misrepresented in common life.