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Jean Westaway
Alec is the narrator of the eighth chapter. He is Charlotte’s son and Libby’s older brother. When Alec is 17, he resents Charlotte for her eccentricity, her strange rules against technology, and her strict parenting. However, he drastically overestimates his own suffering, comparing it to living in Nazi Germany, modeling the often-unjustified ire sons have toward their mothers. Alec is a talented artist and dreams of leaving his family to see the world and never return. However, during Kip and Annabel’s anniversary dinner, Alec finds an old hidden photo of Connie only weeks before she died. He is struck by how overcome Kip is to see his sister’s photo once again. That evening, after his grandparents leave, Charlotte asks Alec to take the photo to their retirement village, since Kip accidentally left the photo behind. Alec reluctantly agrees, though not without grumbling. On the way there, his friends show up in a fancy car with pizza and bar, trying to convince him to run off to the beach with them for the night. Alec wants to, feeling like this is his only chance to live a normal life, but is torn between the desire to impress his peers and party and his sense of responsibility toward his family. Alec turns them down, feeling like a loser, and brings the photo to his grandparents. When he gets home, Charlotte seems angry at first but then runs to hug him. Alec realizes how small she is compared to him now, and how limited his time is with his mom, seeing it as a precious thing. The fragility of life and relationships is painfully reinforced when he sees his friends’ car on the news: all of them died in a drunk driving accident.
Alec Westaway Quotes in Nine Days
The Nine Days quotes below are all either spoken by Alec Westaway or refer to Alec Westaway. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 7: Jean Quotes
That first quickening, you never forget it. The first time you feel it, a cross between a squirming and a kicking, and you realize there’s another whole body enclosed within yours, and it’s made out of your very own flesh. While there’s a child of yours alive in the world, you never really die. They’re a part of your body living on without you.
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Chapter 8: Alec Quotes
From what [Kip] says, it seems like all kinds of stupid things had to be kept secret back then. When he says that his sister didn’t die from the flu, Stanzi just nods. Charlotte gets on her high horse about ridiculous sexist taboos and lies and nothing to be ashamed of. Grandma [Annabel] smiles. You can’t imagine what it was like back then, she says. So much pain, all covered over.
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“Alec. You must know this. People disappear. They just go puff. Thin air. Every time you see someone, you never know if you’re seeing them for the last time. Drink them in, Alec. Kiss them. It’s very important.”
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When me and Libby were little, Grandpa [Kip] was in charge of all the dad stuff. He took photos of us, hundreds of them. He still has them over at their apartment at the retirement village. He was the one who taught us to play poker and took us to the football.
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Alec Westaway Character Timeline in Nine Days
The timeline below shows where the character Alec Westaway appears in Nine Days. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 8: Alec
Alec sits outside alone while a jet flies overhead, “away from home in a world of...
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When Alec gets home, his sister Libby is standing in the kitchen cleaning silverware. She yells to...
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...she was talking to him, and forces him to call her “mother” rather than “Charlotte.” Alec is snide and sarcastic, only making Charlotte more furious. Alec complains about not having an...
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Stanzi, who is now a personal trainer, bounds up the stairs. Alec thinks she must rush to help all the time because she and Charlotte are afraid...
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Alec’s grandmother Annabel, Kip, and Uncle Frank arrive, and the whole family sits down to eat....
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...years ago and how happy he is to have the whole family at one table. Alec is bored. Kip talks about how it bothered him that he and Annabel only had...
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Alec walks out to the car, thinking about all the different generations in that house and...
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Alec brings the item, a biscuit tin, inside to show everyone. Kip asks him to open...
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...Annabel and Uncle Frank are getting ready to leave, Charlotte realizes that Kip has disappeared. Alec finds him in the backyard, standing beneath a tree, which he says is the last...
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As Libby, Charlotte, and Alec are about to go to bed, they all notice that Kip has left the photo...
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Alec is near the first tram station when a shiny red sports car pulls up, the...
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As Alec puts his hand on the door to climb inside, he feels the strap of his...
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Alec enters the nursing home where Kip, Annabel, and Frank all live together, and finds Kip...
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When Alec opens the door to his own home, Charlotte yells at him; he should’ve been home...
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...a traffic accident on the freeway on the news. Over her shoulder on the TV, Alec sees the same red sports car in which his friends were riding. He kneels in...
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