Has she really? In what ways has she taken on the characteristics of the upper middle class, and in what ways is she rooted in her origins?ĭennis says of Billy, “It’s hard to be a liar and a believer yourself” (p. Why does Billy love the sight of the large houses in East Hampton, and what does that say about his character and circumstances? What class attitudes are held in common by this large extended family? Kate feels she has escaped her working-class background. What does the demeanor of the priest who visits Maeve and the way the assembled mourners react to him tell us about the author’s attitude toward the Church and its dogmas about life and death? What are Billy’s feelings toward these dogmas? What are Dennis’s, and what about the narrator’s?
What does it mean to him? What does the narrator mean when she contrasts Billy’s type of faith with Dennis’s (p. Why does Dennis link drinking with faith? What does Dennis mean when he says Billy has faith? Is this faith connected with religious faith? “Redemption” is a favorite word of Billy’s (p. He’s got this faith–which is probably why he drinks” (pp. Does Dennis come to change his mind later in life, to regret having told a lie? What other lies does Dennis tell Billy, and what illusions does he allow Billy to entertain?ĭennis says, “When Billy sets his heart on something there’s no changing him. When Dennis decides to tell Billy that Eva is dead, he thinks, “Better he be brokenhearted than trailed all the rest of his life by a sense of his own foolishness” (p. When it comes to Billy, which of them is right? Dennis says that “an alcoholic can always find a reason but never needs one” (p. They’re loyal to their own feelings” (pp. Maybe for some it’s a sadness they can’t get rid of or a disappointment that won’t go away. 19): Dan Lynch says that “maybe for some people it’s a disease. Rosemary says that Billy’s alcoholism was “a disease” (p.
What is the accepted story of Billy’s life as presented by the mourners assembled at the funeral lunch? Which aspects of that story turn out to be false? If Billy’s wife had been beautiful, observes the narrator, “then the story of his life, or the story they would begin to re-create for him this afternoon, would have to take another turn” (p.
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