Shuggie Bain

by

Douglas Stuart

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Shuggie Bain: Chapter One: 1992, The South Side Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Shuggie moves through his day as normal, mindlessly and soullessly going through the motions while daydreaming about tomorrow, which is far more hopeful. Beginning his shift at the deli, he neatly arranges dips, olives, and sliced meats in the display case, though he is offput by the sliminess and sickly appearance of the food. Because his coworker has called in sick again, he steps in for her and prepares raw chickens for the rotisserie. His repulsion at the task and annoyance at her absence distracts him from his daydreams.
Though Shuggie is clearly unhappy with his current situation, he still dreams of the future, suggesting that he maintains hope beyond his difficult present. Shuggie’s attitude toward his work also reveals a great deal about his personality. He is persnickety about the presentation of the foods in the deli case, taking great pride in their neatness. He also has high standards for his coworkers, and he is enraged when people fail to show up or pull their weight.  
Themes
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Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Addiction and Abandonment Theme Icon
Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
While Shuggie dislikes many of his work tasks, they pale in comparison to the difficulty of handling customers. They are entitled and picky, asking for an assortment of chicken pieces, never a whole chicken. Under their sharp attention, he struggles to cut through the birds’ bones, sometimes dropping one on the floor in the process. Despite his personal sense of cleanliness, he often returns the contaminated bird to the case so nothing is wasted. This act of defiance, along with his habit of mixing bodily fluids into the dips on difficult days, prevents him from outright violence.
Shuggie’s hatred for exacting customers shows his sensitivity to how others perceive him, especially wealthy patrons whom he finds wasteful and entitled. When he feels judged by well-off people, he becomes excessively agitated, beyond what one might expect from a discontented worker. His refusal to waste food suggests that Shuggie has personal experience with poverty. 
Themes
Identity and Societal Expectations Theme Icon
Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
Though Shuggie never intended to stay at Kilfeathers, he has been working there for over a year. He was hired by the owner because he is underaged, making it so Mr. Kilfeather can pay him less than minimum adult wage. Mr. Kilfeather allows Shuggie to fit work shifts around his inconsistent school attendance. Shuggie planned to attend hairdressing school, having always been fascinated by hair, but found he was too intimidated to register because of the fashionable and confident students he sees entering the school building one day.
When Shuggie tries to pursue his dream of attending school to cut hair, his fear of others’ judgment prevents him from committing to his studies. It is clear he feels unqualified to join the other students he sees milling outside, which is likely due to both his young age and his inconsistent history with schooling. He instead stays working a job he hates, avoiding potential rejection.
Themes
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Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
Instead, he continues to work at the shop, barely making rent. On his breaks, he scavenges through dented, discounted cans of food. When putting the food in his locker, he encounters his three middle-aged female coworkers, who sit in the breakroom. The women all ask how he is doing and fawn over him, and he finds their motherly attention comforting—most of the time. He knows that he represents male attention, a rarity for them. In the past, more than one has tried to grope him under the table. Though they play it off as accidental, their lingering touches tell him otherwise. When he fails to respond the way they want, they refuse to take it as rejection and agree there is something not right about him.
Shuggie’s warm relationship with his three coworkers suggests that he bonds more easily with older, motherly figures. This, paired with his need to work underaged to support himself—and buy damaged food at deep discount from work—implies that Shuggie may be on his own, without any sort of reliable parental presence. That Shuggie has no large reaction to the women betraying that trust when they feel him up under the table or call him strange also suggests previous experience with abuse.
Themes
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Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Addiction and Abandonment Theme Icon
Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
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Back at his apartment, Shuggie lies in the dark listening to the sleep sounds of the other lonely tenants in his building, most of them single men. Shuggie arranges his food and loose change in the morning chill as his neighbor wakes on the other side of the wall. He coughs and rummages around before heading to the shared bathroom down the hall.  Shuggie surveys his room. He owns dozens of porcelain dolls, which he has spent hours dreaming up backstories for. He also considers his bedding, reflecting that his mother, who was proud and appearance-driven, would have been ashamed by the mismatching sheets. He commits to saving up enough of his wages to buy new ones that match.
Shuggie works hard to evade the other men in his building, especially those untethered by relationships or stable responsibilities. Again, this avoidance hints at negative experiences he may have had with men previously. His room is a single one, further supporting the implication that he lives alone at a young age. The things in his rented room—both the dolls and mismatching sheets—provide further clues to his background.  His concern over these items demonstrates a preoccupation with wealth, class, and beauty that may be considered abnormal for a teenage boy. 
Themes
Identity and Societal Expectations Theme Icon
Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Addiction and Abandonment Theme Icon
Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
Quotes
For now, however, he feels lucky to have found this apartment, as most people look on him with judgement and refuse to rent to 15-year-olds. The Pakistani woman he rents from, Mrs. Bakhsh, does not care about his age. In fact, she is rarely around, not bothering to drop in until one of her tenant’s rents is late or to complete routine maintenance. Still, Shuggie went to extra efforts to decorate the envelope of his first rent payment with small designs and looping print to show her he was responsible and thoughtful.
Shuggie’s living situation, alone at the age of 15, is confirmed in this passage. His strategy for dealing with his landlady shows that he wants to appear older, but what he does to communicate maturity when he first pays his rent—carefully drawing pictures and printing in nice ink—is actually evidence to the contrary: he is a child trying to determine how adults behave, likely failing because he did not experience true parental influences growing up.
Themes
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Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Addiction and Abandonment Theme Icon
Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
After hearing his neighbor vacate the bathroom, Shuggie puts a parka on over his underwear and grabs tea towels to take with him. He unstuffs the sweater from under his door, which lets in the smell of the other men in the tenement he tries hard to block out. Over time, Shuggie has learned to identify his neighbors by the smell of their meals and dirty clothes and haircare products. Once he reaches the bathroom, he doublechecks the lock on the door before unzipping his coat. He bathes himself with one of the towels, splurging on the 50 pence required to turn on the warm water, dreaming of one day having a tub full of hot water so he can fully thaw himself.
Shuggie’s history with abusive individuals is further supported by his compulsion to cover his body on the way to the bathroom, as well as his hyper-awareness of those around him, from their smell to the sound of their footstep. His wish to be fully warm once again, like his desire for a matching sheet set, underscores the difficulty of his life now while also implying that he once had access to and values these comforts.
Themes
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Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Addiction and Abandonment Theme Icon
Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
Shuggie inspects himself as he cleans, noting the narrowness of his upper arms and the fineness of his armpit hair. He pinches at the skin, trying to detect any odor without luck. Reciting football statistics to himself, he continues his examination. He finds his hair dark and long, his skin too white, and his cheekbones too high. Everything Shuggie notices about himself is feminine rather than masculine; he believes there is something wrong with him, too, something abnormal for a boy his age. He continues to scrub hard at his skin while he recites old football scores.  
Probing himself for evidence of growing masculinity, Shuggie is frustrated to find none. That he pinches his skin, punishing himself, when he doesn’t find what he’s looking for speaks to a desperate need to appear more masculine. His disappointment moves him to begin reciting football scores, which illustrates a narrow societal definition of manhood, but one he nonetheless is trying to achieve.  
Themes
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Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
Quotes
Leaving the bathroom, Shuggie encounters his neighbor, Mr. Darling. He recalls that when he first moved in, Mr. Darling stopped by Shuggie’s flat with a pack of beer. They had sat awkwardly on the bed with their lager, though Shuggie only pretended to drink. He learned that Mr. Darling, who talked nervously and seemed to be preoccupied, used to be a janitor at a Protestant school that was closed to integrate its students with a Catholic school. This astounded the older man, who was prejudiced against Catholics and wanted to know which faith Shuggie belongs to. When Shuggie answered that he is not really Catholic or Protestant, Mr. Darling asked about his best school subject. Shuggie didn’t have an answer for this, either. While they had talked, Mr. Darling continued drinking heavily and rested his pinkie finger intentionally on Shuggie’s thigh, making him uncomfortable.
Mr. Darling seems unsafe in a whole litany of ways: his hyper-fixation on sectarian differences, his drinking problem, his probing hands on Shuggie’s inner leg for an extended period of time. Shuggie’s response to this is significant. On one hand, it stirs a reflection about his family’s complicated religious background, providing further context about his character. Shuggie is neither Protestant nor Catholic—or, at least, he’s unwilling to claim allegiance to either. Shuggie’s reaction to Mr. Darling’s unwanted contact (freezing until the threat passes) also further implies that he has had previous encounters with men like this.
Themes
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Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Addiction and Abandonment Theme Icon
Sectarianism Theme Icon
Back in the tenement hallway, Mr. Darling asks Shuggie about his plans for the day. Shuggie answers that he has errands to run and a friend to visit. Mr. Darling is disappointed, saying that he was going to cash his unemployment and buy more beer, and he had hoped the two could drink together. Shuggie considers this, knowing that he can usually get some money out of the man but is sure he does not have time to wait on him today. Shuggie then lets his parka open, and Mr. Darling smiles as he takes in the boy’s chest, underwear, and legs.
Shuggie clearly understands what is motivating Mr. Darling’s interest in him, recognizing the older man’s desire to get him drunk. To a certain extent, he avoids encountering his neighbor, but he also knows that he can use Mr. Darling’s attention to his own advantage with a little encouragement. Shuggie’s willingness to sacrifice his comfort and potentially his safety shows his determination to survive.  
Themes
Identity and Societal Expectations Theme Icon
Coming of Age and Trauma Theme Icon
Addiction and Abandonment Theme Icon
Pride and Appearances Theme Icon