The three extracts that I chose have something in common: all of them are related to

Marianne’s brother, Alan, and indirectly to her family.

The first one comes from a very early part of the novel, punctually from the 12th page in
the 2nd chapter, and we are still meeting for the first time the main characters and creating
an image and personality for them. So this encounter between Marianne and Alan makes us
think about him as a very aggressive and impulsive person, a violent storm in Marianne's
life that makes us feel sympathy for her. He is an antagonist that has to create painful
traumas in her, and we begin to dislike him.
This emotion becomes more intense before we arrive at the second extract (page 128,
chapter 13th) when Marianne explains this “issue” with her brother to the other
protagonist, Connell, making him feel sympathetic like us and also a bit upset at not
knowing that before. In the meantime, there have been more confrontations with Alan, with
the same or more level of aggressivity. It is told that Marianne’s father hit her mother and
her before he died and, in one of the few conversations we have between them, she said to
Marianne that “if you can’t handle a little sibling rivalry, I don’t know how you’re going to
manage adult life”. To add more information, Lorraine, Connell’s mother and cleaner in her
house, said that Alan has a weak personality.
With that, we can figure out that Alan’s violent treatment of Marianne is an imitation of his
father's behaviour. He has normalised it by seeing it his whole childhood, so he cannot
understand that what he is doing is wrong, especially having a weak personality.
But even though we understand that it isn't completely Alan's fault, we still feel anger
when he treats Marianne in that way. Finally, when the climax of the siblings' confrontation
arrives, the protagonist asks Connell for help. There is when we have the third extract, very
near the end (page 175, chapter 17th). In it, Connell comes to rescue her, breaking into her
house and remembering what she told him in the last extract. She escapes to his car, and
Connell threatens her brother, as we can read in the extract. Then, we feel a bit relieved
about it, the cause of the problem is solved and Alan got what he deserved. But if we take
a more objective look at just the final situation, we can change that feeling. The protagonist
drove to Marianne's drunk and death threatened her brother also drunk, and the best is that
we feel good about it. It seems incredible to me how the author could make us feel this way
about such a bad episode. By making us hate a character first, she could do with him
whatever she wanted and even though some of the readers would feel relieved. I find it
very interesting.
1st extract:
Downstairs, when she takes her coat off the hook, her brother Alan comes out from the living
room.
Where are you going? he says.
Out.
Where’s out?
She puts her arms through the sleeves of her coat and adjusts the collar. She’s beginning to
feel nervous now and hopes her silence is communicating insolence rather than uncertainty.
Just out for a walk, she says.
Alan moves to stand in front of the door.
Well, I know you’re not going out to meet friends, he says. Because you don’t have any
friends, do you?
No, I don’t.
She smiles now, a placid smile, hoping that this gesture of submission will placate him and
he’ll move away from the door. Instead he says: What are you doing that for?
What? she says.
This weird smile you’re doing.
He mimics her face, contorted into an ugly grin, teeth bared. Though he’s grinning, the force
and extremity of this impersonation make him look angry.
Are you happy that you don’t have friends? he says.
No.
Still smiling, she takes two small steps backwards, and then turns and walks towards the
kitchen, where there’s a patio door onto the garden. Alan walks after her. He grabs her by
the upper arm and tugs her back from the door. She feels her jaw tighten. His fingers
compress her arm through her jacket.
If you go crying to Mom about this, says Alan.
No, says Marianne, no. I’m just going out for a walk now. Thank you.
He releases her and she slips out through the patio door, closing it behind her.

2nd extract:
In the same strange unaccented voice she continues: They hate me.
He sits up in bed to see her better. I know you fight with them, he says, but that doesn’t
mean they hate you.
Last time I was home my brother told me I should kill myself.
Mechanically Connell sits up straighter, pushing the quilt off his body as if he’s about to get
up. He runs his tongue around the inside of his mouth.
What did he say that for? he says.
I don’t know. He said no one would miss me if I was dead because I have no friends.
Would you not tell your mother if he talked to you like that?
She was there, says Marianne.
Connell moves his jaw around. The pulse in his neck is throbbing. He’s trying to visualise
this scene, the Sheridans at home, Alan for some reason telling Marianne to commit suicide,
but it’s hard to picture any family behaving the way that she has described.
What did she say? he asks. As in, how did she react?
I think she said something like, oh, don’t encourage her.
Slowly Connell breathes in through his nose and exhales the breath between his lips.
And what provoked this? he says. Like, how did the argument start?
He senses that something in Marianne’s face changes now, or hardens, but he can’t name
what it is exactly.
You think I did something to deserve it, she says.
No, obviously I’m not saying that.
Sometimes I think I must deserve it. Otherwise I don’t know why it would happen. But if he’s
in a bad mood he’ll just follow me around the house. There’s nothing I can do. He’ll just
come into my room, he doesn’t care if I’m sleeping or anything.
Connell rubs his palms on the sheet.
Would he ever hit you? he says.
Sometimes. Less so since I moved away. To be honest I don’t even mind it that much. The
psychological stuff is more demoralising. I don’t know how to explain it, really. I know it must
sound …
He touches his hand to his forehead. His skin feels wet. She doesn’t finish the sentence to
explain how it must sound.
Why didn’t you ever tell me about it before? he says. She says nothing. The light is dim but
he can see her open eyes. Marianne, he says. The whole time we were together, why didn’t
you tell me any of this?
I don’t know. I suppose I didn’t want you to think I was damaged or something. I was
probably afraid you wouldn’t want me anymore.

3rd extract:

What happened? he says.

Footsteps come thumping down the stairs behind her. Connell, as if viewing the scene
through some kind of cosmic telescope, sees her brother reach the bottom of the staircase.
Why have you got blood on you? says Connell.
I think my nose is broken, she says.
Who’s that? says Alan behind her. Who’s at the door?
Do you need to go to hospital? says Connell.
She shakes her head, she says it doesn’t need emergency attention, she looked it up online.
She can go to the doctor tomorrow if it still hurts. Connell nods.
Was it him? says Connell.
She nods. Her eyes have a frightened look.
Get in the car, Connell says.
She looks at him, not moving her hands. Her face is still covered with tissue. He shakes the
keys.
Go, he says.
She takes her hand from the door and opens her palm. He puts the keys into it and, still
looking at him, she walks outside.
Where are you going? says Alan.
Connell stands just inside the front door now. A coloured haze sweeps over the driveway as
he watches Marianne get into the car.
What’s going on here? says Alan.
Once she’s safely inside the car, Connell closes over the front door, so that he and Alan are
alone together.
What are you doing? says Alan.
Connell, his sight even blurrier now, can’t tell whether Alan is angry or frightened.
I need to talk to you, Connell says.
His vision is swimming so severely that he notices he has to keep a hand on the door to stay
upright.
I didn’t do anything, says Alan.
Connell walks towards Alan until Alan is standing with his back against the bannister. He
seems smaller now, and scared. He calls for his mother, turning his head until his neck
strains, but no one appears from up the stairs. Connell’s face is wet with perspiration. Alan’s
face is visible only as a pattern of coloured dots.
If you ever touch Marianne again, I’ll kill you, he says. Okay? That’s all. Say one bad thing to
her ever again and I’ll come back here myself and kill you, that’s it.
It seems to Connell, though he can’t see or hear very well, that Alan is now crying.
Do you understand me? Connell says. Say yes or no.
Alan says: Yes.