Shuggie Bain: Chapter Three: 1982, Pithead Summary & Analysis

Agnes shifts her original tactic, no longer trying to shame Shug into staying and instead begging him, placing her body in the way of his escape route. Shug’s impending abandonment is all the more terrifying to her in light of their move—she is isolated from her parents and even further from her aspirations in life. 

Shug’s selfishness is never clearer than in the months following the move to Pithead. He benefits from the security of his new life with Joanie, but he still uses Agnes freely to satiate his own selfish desires. Agnes attempts to emulate stereotypically feminine roles to keep him around, and because they serve his greater needs, it works—but only for a bit.

Because Agnes has always found her worth in her attractiveness and believed it would secure a better life for her, she is especially leveled by the news that Shug has left her for plain, classless Joanie. The utter selfishness motivating Shug’s decisions is cemented by his admission that he brought her to Pithead to see if she would come. The fact that she did ultimately makes no difference because he has already decided his course.  Shug’s pattern of violence continues here as well. Just as he hurt Agnes to get through to her when they were at the seaside, he feels he must hurt her to break free in this passage.

Agnes dresses up and heads out, meaning to acquire the two things that she knows can make her feel better: more alcohol and attention from men. The women of the neighborhood cajole her into speaking with them, and as isolated as she has been in Pithead, she accepts the opportunity for companionship. She is unwilling to be honest about her situation; she is too embarrassed and prideful to be forthright. Agnes is also determined to maintain her feeling of superiority over her neighbors, and engaging honestly with them would make that impossible.

Even without sharing freely with them, the neighbor women have picked up on both Agnes’s alcoholism and her absent husband, seeing through her elegant appearance. The minimal effort Agnes made to connect with the other women ends abruptly after she realizes they’ve guessed at her truth and tricked her into confirming their suspicions, which wounds her pride. Even so, Bridie and the others offer advice about getting on government assistance, which sustains Agnes and her children—and inadvertently her drinking problem—far into the future.

The effects of Agnes’s drinking on Shuggie’ well-being have begun to escalate. He is largely alone and has yet to be enrolled in school. Without protection from any adults, the other children begin bullying him for his differences, his missing father, and his mother’s growing reputation for her drinking. Unfortunately, Shuggie thus bears the brunt of the community’s judgement.

Despite the bullying Shuggie is subjected to, his childlike innocence remains. The beauty he sees in the rainbow sheen on the oil and his confusion when only blackness transfers to his dolly’s hair functions as a representation of how his earnest self-expression evokes such nastiness in his peers. Still, Shuggie’s encounter with Johnny shows that he gives people the benefit of the doubt, even those who seek to take advantage of him.

This is first instance of sexual abuse that Shuggie suffers in the novel. Johnny targets Shuggie because he is vulnerable, both due to his ostracization for his feminine mannerisms and the lack of adult supervision in his life. Shuggie leaves behind his doll afterward, which is symbolic of his loss of innocence, brought on by the bullying and the assault. He leaves him largely because he is too afraid to go back in case he runs into Johnny again, but it seems that he also understands that his doll has made him a target. When he arrives home, his mother is also too wrapped up in her own anger, harassing Joanie over the phone, to notice Shuggie’s obvious injuries. 

Leek, like Catherine back in Sighthill, can tell from the outside of the house that things are not going well inside. Agnes, who is so concerned with the way she and her family appear to their community, has lost that impulse in her drunkenness, leaving the curtains open and lights on. Leek’s suspicions are confirmed when Agnes comes to the window drunk. As is his usual habit, Leek leaves so he does not have to deal with his mother, leaving Shuggie behind to handle Agnes alone.

The phone, which symbolizes Agnes’s anger and connection to the outside world, has died from Agnes’s overuse the night before; in Pithead, she is alone and starving for companionship, but having none, she acts out of spite instead. The only care she receives is from Shuggie, who shows her love the only way he knows how: tea. She ignores this, instead looking for her next fix. After finding no alcohol and knowing she’s already spent the family’s money for the week, her decision to look for her children’s things for something to pawn highlights exactly how dependent on drinking she has become. Only after she finds nothing valuable does she go through her own things in search of something to pawn.

The mechanic shows shocking insight into Agnes’s situation. His quick assessment of her withdrawal symptoms comes from personal experience, but it also suggests that Agnes’s desire to present herself well is far less successful than she believes. Many people, including Bridie and the mechanic, are able to see right through her clothing and posh accent to the hurt hidden beneath. He also tries to assure her that healing is a better revenge than collapsing inward on herself, but Agnes is too lost in her own experience to hear him—or anyone else.

As Catherine spends increasingly less time in the Pithead house, preparing to marry Donald Jnr., she is better able to see the changes her little brother has endured. In living with an alcoholic mother, Catherine observes that Shuggie behaves far beyond his years. He has been forced to mature quickly. Even though Catherine sees this, she manipulates Shuggie in her own way by threatening that Agnes and Leek will both suffer if Shuggie discloses their visit. In choosing to marry Shug’s Protestant nephew, it seems that her sympathies have shifted almost entirely away from her mother and brothers.

Shug and Joanie’s home is filled with things that Shuggie lacks: responsible adult figures, good food, warmth. He can’t help but desire those thing—his body automatically reacts to the smell of food, for example—but his mother’s hatred for his father Joanie have become so ingrained that Shuggie feels ashamed of his reaction. Shuggie also understands that, by Agnes’s standards, Catherine has betrayed the family by tolerating Shug and his family. Shug himself only makes the situation worse by speaking ill of Agnes with no thought of how it makes his son feel.

This passage expands on the topic of Shuggie’s advanced maturity, which stands in contrast to his more age-appropriate behaviors. Though he is young, he has learned his mother’s moods and opinions by heart, which allows him to anticipate her episodes and help her any way he can. For this reason, he hates Joanie and Shug and, learning that Catherine will abandon them for South Africa, his sister too. He is still a child, however, so he processes these complex emotions by trying to destroy Joanie’s carpet. This tactic also carries a note of Agnes in it, being driven by revenge and based on ruining the nice furnishings in the home, which Agnes would have prized greatly.

Leek had wanted to leave for art school and build his own life, but he feels pressure to step up as the man of the house. Knowing that Shug and Catherine’s abandonment only exacerbated Agnes’s drinking, Leek is reticent to add to the problem. This, as well as the letter from Catherine that he keeps with him in his sketchbook, show his deep care for his family. While he feels he cannot physically leave without destroying his mother, he copes by withdrawing more and more (on an emotional level) from all aspects of his life.

Shuggie’s desire to be close to Leek, both physically and emotionally, chafes against Leek’s desire to isolate himself. Leek’s sense of duty overrides his need for space when the topic of Shuggie’s bullies come up. Leek, like everyone else, clearly sees the ways in which Shuggie differs from the other boys. He advises his little brother to simply imitate masculinity. In doing so, he tries to give Shuggie the tools to pass unnoticed in society, as Leek himself has managed to do.

Being as intimately connected to Agnes and her worries as he is, Shuggie reels at hearing that Leek is planning for the future. He knows he likely does not factor into these plans, having not been included in Shug or Catherine’s escape either. It is fitting, then, that Shuggie chooses to draw Agnes, who is the only person he knows won’t leave him—she needs him as much as he needs her. Shuggie’s preference for stereotypically female activities is also underscored by the joy he feels drawing Agnes’s hair.

Shuggie is so preoccupied in trying to override his body’s natural inclinations that he forgets to do the job Leek assigned to him. Again, Shuggie’s youth is highlighted. While he spends a good deal of time alone and carries the weight of adult problems on his shoulders, he is still vulnerable, in need of help, and fallible. Shuggie’s body also reacts automatically to his fear in a way mental and emotional maturity can’t counteract. Once the danger passes and Leek rescues him from the mud, Shuggie’s mind returns to its usual concern: how to avoid upsetting their mother.

Leek is typically nonviolent and more prone to dealing with his problems by fleeing. His anger at Shuggie, whose failure to keep watch necessitated the use of force, is actually rooted in fear. Since Leek was also pushed to mature quickly and take on adult responsibilities early, it makes sense that he holds his brother to a higher standard than is fair for his age.

Shuggie’s subservient behavior illustrates his desperation to maintain his relationship with his older brother, who is his only ally in handling Agnes’s mercurial moods. Shuggie has no allies outside the house either. He fixates on practicing walking, believing this may be his salvation from the ridicule of others and the growing shame he feels for being abnormal by his community’s standards.

In a moment of rare clarity outside her drinking, Agnes takes notice of Shuggie’s struggle to make friends in their new community. Shuggie’s reputation in the neighborhood for being strange has not escaped her, given Colleen McAvennie’s homophobic slur. Agnes’s observation of the McAvennie children’s bedraggled appearance is not surprising, but her willingness to acknowledge similarities between her and Colleen—someone who she constantly judges—is shocking.

Agnes fears that Shuggie’s queerness is a result of his lack of a father figure, and she feels guilty for being unable to keep Shug around. In hopes of amending this failure to maintain a strong male presence in Shuggie’s life, Agnes goes to Jamesy, who Agnes believes possesses many stereotypically masculine traits that Shuggie would do well to learn. Her care for her son—and her impaired judgement from drinking—push her to trade sex for his help.

Despite Shuggie’s constant attempts to fit in, Agnes’s means of assisting him only play on his insecurities. Still, Shuggie and Agnes’s dependence on and love for each other is strong; while he doesn’t know what Agnes has given in order to arrange this outing, he is willing to forsake his comfort for her, just as she did for him. Both of their prides are deeply wounded when, in spite of that mutual sacrifice, Jamesy leaves without Shuggie. 

Agnes proceeds with her normal pattern of drinking to handle her hurt, though this time her need for revenge outweighs her thirst. She also dresses up as if preparing for battle, using her beauty as a weapon when it serves her. Her desire to enact revenge is stalled by the scene that unfolds before her, as Jamesy and Colleen embarrass themselves more successfully than she could have managed. 

Colleen’s admission that Jamesy’s cheating was her fault for not wanting to get pregnant again supports the ongoing theme that the pressures of survival, child-rearing, and stability fall disproportionally on women in this community. This is something Agnes understands, and her shame and anger are transformed into compassion for Colleen. Her earlier realization that she and Colleen are more alike than she originally thought is confirmed by this encounter. Colleen has also had her heartbroken by her spouse’s infidelity, and she harms herself in response, just as Agnes has often done.

Lizzie and Wullie seem to have the most mutually loving, long-lasting relationship of all the couples in the novel. Even on Wullie’s deathbed, he has a wife that loves him so dearly that she is committed to providing him comfort, even if it means giving up her sense of decorum.

Once more, Agnes dresses her best while preparing to face difficult circumstances. She is unaware that her extravagant clothes combined with her erratic drunken behavior make her seem even more desperate and unwell than usual. Shuggie’s automatic response that he can care for his mother just fine indicates that he is used to apologizing on her behalf and having to convince other adults that he is okay. Shuggie uses this opportunity to talk to someone with religious authority to address his concerns about being assaulted by Johnny. The nun assures him that going to heaven does not entail a black cab—something that has been a harbinger for ill in Shuggie’s life—or having a body at all (which is a relief Shuggie, since his body bears his memories of abuse).

The image of Shuggie entering the hospital ward carrying Agnes’s things cements the impression that Shuggie acts more like a parent than Agnes does. Lizzie and Agnes’s conversation is the first time Agnes acknowledges that she may have a problem, though her promise of getting help is undercut by the beers she pulls from her purse. Lizzie’s acknowledgment of the difficulty mothers endure is also a deviation from her usual harshness with Agnes. Her comment shows an awareness of the unequal burden that women are expected to carry in society; while men can leave, women must stay and endure hardship.

Though food during the war was scarce, Lizzie seems to have a reasonable backstock of rich foods like ham, cake, and eggs. The affair with the grocer was motivated by her need to care for Agnes; she was willing to sacrifice what she needed, including her fidelity to Wullie, if it meant keeping food in her daughter’s belly. Wullie finds the consequences of that choice when he returns home: a beautiful, happy Agnes and a strange new baby that does not belong to him.

Wullie can only live with one of the outcomes of Lizzie’s affair—the one that benefits him and his blood. He feeds Agnes with the food that he knows Lizzie received from her lover without complaint. When he takes the baby and comes back without him, he refuses to acknowledge that a baby ever existed. A child is the one thing that would have prevented him from pretending nothing happened while he was away, so he made it disappear.

As usual, Agnes needs to direct her negative emotions elsewhere, so she takes out her grief about Wullie’s death on Lizzie. When Lizzie is gone too, she is forced to cope with her grief and shame differently. She communicates her love and regret by improving the appearance of her mother’s body.

The Bain children have all learned to handle Agnes’s sickness in their own way. Neither Catherine’s absence, Leek’s emotional detachment, nor Shuggie’s codependency prevent them from hurt. Instead of blaming the true source for that hurt—Agnes, or at least Agnes’s alcoholism—they fight amongst themselves. 

Shuggie’s thoroughness in preparing for Agnes’s inevitable hangover and his efforts to make her comfortable show his dedication to his role as caretaker. His recollection about the times they used to spend playing with her jewelry reveal part of his motivation. With Agnes, he has always been able to like the things he does without fear of judgement. He is conflicted, however, by the way gender stereotypes limit that enjoyment for boys like him. His mother prioritizes beauty in order to be accepted, but the same things that make her admirable—like wearing mascara or jewelry—make him a target for ridicule.

While Shug’s behavior establishes cabs as a symbol of disappointment and abuse, other men, like the one who raped Agnes while she was drunk, continue this pattern. Agnes’s drinking repeatedly puts her in the way of men acting in service of their own pleasure only. The same poverty that forces her to bathe in lukewarm water is a mitigating factor in her situation as well, pushing her to gamble for more money.

Jinty’s insistence that they drink because she hates to see Agnes suffer is an effort to veil her own desperation for alcohol. Her repetition that she can’t stay long is another farce; she means to come across as casual, but her continual pushing for more booze shows the intense need driving her visit. Jinty’s eventual sharing of the beer in her purse suggests that she does actually want company (perhaps to avoid the shame of drinking alone), but it’s clear that she was originally trying to drink on Agnes’s dime.

Jinty’s interest in Agnes’s assault has very little to do with true empathy. She immediately uses it to manipulate Agnes into drinking more, knowing that this negative experience might make Agnes willing to go to extremes to get more alcohol. Agnes views her beauty as a redeeming quality, something that allows her to maintain her pride in spite of everything, but it is also a bargaining chip that others like Jinty try to use to their own advantage.

Unsurprisingly, drinking does not address the trauma of the night before; it only makes Agnes more pliable to the whims of others. Jinty has already latched on to the assault from the previous night to mobilize Agnes’s need, and now she flaunts it to entertain their guest. Just as drinking often makes Agnes incapable of seeing how she hurts others, Jinty’s alcoholism eclipses her awareness of how selfish her actions are.

Agnes seems to believe Jinty that she owes Lamby a kiss. Jinty knows she can manipulate Agnes by calling her hospitality and decorum into question. With the two of them distracting each other, she can pocket all the remaining items for herself. When Lamby gets close and Agnes realizes he reminds her of her children, it gives her a glimpse into how her drinking has pushed them away from her.

Shuggie’s interests, appearance, and behavior still conflict with societal norms for young boys, and the other children are intent on making him pay for it. They bully him both physically and mentally, and the rumor that he is being molested by Father Barry is even more cruel given that Shuggie has experienced abuse—but from a peer rather than an adult. For the first time, another student stands up for Shuggie. Though there is immediately blow back from the other children, Shuggie soaks up the rare kindness.

For the first time in the novel, Shuggie feels that he has made a friend. Because Shuggie suddenly has another option for companionship, he feels he can choose to spend time with Annie rather than babysit his drunk mother. This chance at escape—even briefly—is a significant moment. Unfortunately, it is disrupted by the realization that Annie’s kindness is clearly rooted in their shared experience of alcoholic parents, and that their parents know each other. Shuggie cannot stop imagining his classy mother compromising her pride by hanging out with Annie’s slobby father.

Annie is the first person other than Agnes who allows Shuggie to show his true interests without fear of retribution. The more they talk, however, the more Annie reminds him of his mother. She shares in common with Agnes an easy acceptance of Shuggie’s differences, dependence on her coping mechanism (in this case, cigarettes), and a habit of letting let boys take advantage of her. While Shuggie forgives his mother repeatedly for her shortcomings, he is repulsed by Annie’s lack of remorse about her own experiences. She no longer seems like a potential refuge to him, but another problem. 

Shuggie tries to tamp down his mental and emotional apprehension about his home life, but his body is less easily controlled; his anxiety brings on digestive discomfort. In order to survive Agnes’s capricious temperament, Shuggie has had to be intensely observant, and in that watchfulness he has picked up on her patterns. Like Leek and Catherine, he can assess her mood from seemingly innocuous external details. In this way, the outside of the house once more functions as a symbol for Agnes’s internal state.

Because Agnes is easily manipulated by people with selfish intentions when she is drunk—primarily Jinty and abusive men—Shuggie does not like when he comes home to company. When it is other women over visiting, he resents that he has to take care of them like he does Agnes. Shuggie’s commitment to his mother is rooted in deep affection for her, but he has no affection for these other women like Jinty. This annoyance escalates to rare violence when Jinty calls out Shuggie’s oddness, equating his queerness with her own daughter’s medical condition.

Shuggie’s desire for Agnes to get better is so keen that he cannot stand to be disappointed. He is hesitant to believe the good sign he sees, but he is not wrong. Now sober, Agnes has begun to reclaim her parental role, for once making Shuggie tea and feeding him rather than the other way around.

Agnes’s choice to attend AA meetings on the far side of the city shows that her pride is still of primary importance to her. Sobriety does not instantly erase the traits that motivated or her perpetuated drinking in the first place. This is evident in the AA leader’s monologue about Saint Agnes, as well. Instead of allowing Agnes to share her story, he latches on to a piece of her experience—her name—and uses it draw attention to herself. He may be sober, but he still demonstrates a level of selfishness that men are permitted to possess in this society.

The night shift benefits Agnes in two key ways: it keeps her too busy to drink on what would otherwise be lonely nights, and the attention she gets from men strokes her ego. Agnes’s past experiences have caused her to draw negative associations with cabs, so she is wary of them—and yet, she also enjoys the drivers’ admiration. This is exactly why she takes special interest in the driver who seems different from the others. Since he doesn’t fawn over her, he presents a challenge, but he also seems less likely to try and manipulate her.

Agnes takes extra interest in Eugene because she knows they would make an attractive, enviable couple. Her vanity is also responsible for her negative reaction to feeling out of place at the honkytonk venue. She lies about why she doesn’t drink for the same reason; she doesn’t want to stand out. Her efforts to maintain her pride suddenly become pointless when Eugene’s friends make his connection to Colleen evident.

Because Eugene ignores his sister and friends’ gossip about Agnes—gossip that is fully rooted in truth—Agnes is able to recover from the hit to her sensitive pride. Up to this point, Agnes has only spent time with men who reinforce her compulsions and insecurities, but Eugene calms her. It seems as though he is an exception to the abusive cabby pattern, and he may actually support Agnes’s sobriety rather than undermine it.

Eugene’s supportiveness up to this point encourages Agnes to be forthright with him about how badly her drinking has made her behave in the past. Eugene doesn’t get why she can’t drink again now that she’s better. Agnes’s explanation to him shows that she now understands the fears driving her drinking haven’t gone anywhere, and that any alcohol at all feeds them, making them more powerful. While Eugene does not understand the functions of addiction still, he can understand loneliness—and this bonds them together.  Dancing, as ever, serves as a symbol of Agnes’s hope, except this time it is not an attempt to reclaim hope. Instead, it is a true reflection of how she already feels.

The image of Shuggie’s toes interlaced with Agnes’s is a poignant representation of how connected the two are. Shuggie is still studying Agnes closely, as he did when she was drinking. As he asks Agnes questions about her plans with Eugene, his concern is apparent. Men have so often derailed the small happiness that Agnes has found, and Shuggie is not yet convinced that Eugene won’t do the same.

This date is slightly more awkward than Eugene and Agnes’s first outing, as a hike in the wilderness is even further outside of Agnes’s comfort zone. By dressing up, she is revisiting some of the old expectations she had felt when she was with Shug. She still longs for a romance that makes her feel elegant and special. Eugene, unlike Shug, is forthright about who he is and what he can give her. While Agnes still feels uncomfortable, Eugene’s honesty sets him apart from Shug in meaningful way. Like Agnes’s first husband, Eugene comes from a large, impoverished Catholic family; in some ways, Eugene is a second chance for Agnes to be happy with what she has, like Lizzie wished she could be.

Agnes’s request to stay for the lights is a callback to the disastrous trip to the seaside that Agnes and Shug once took. Shug pulled Agnes along so fast, eager to show her off, that she lost sight of the lights. That night, she only found pain in Shug’s arms. Eugene, in contrast, is just happy to have time alone with her. He is in no rush to move, and Agnes finds peace in his arms. The only ongoing point of tension is Eugene’s unfamiliarity with addiction and his discomfort with Agnes’s sobriety.

Shuggie’s worry that the noisy metal in the bag is beer highlights how difficult it is for him to believe that Agnes has truly committed to her sobriety. While this is understandable, this outing actually shows him a side of his mother he has not seen. Instead of continuing to wait for a man to give her the life she wants—like the nice house with a beautiful garden Shug once promised—Agnes goes out to claim it for herself

No longer having to put all his effort into ensuring that Agnes is safe, Shuggie devotes his energy to maintaining the new roses in the front yard. His meticulousness is just another thing that the neighbors find effeminate and worthy of ridicule. This encounter also makes it clear that while Eugene has chosen to ignore Agnes’s past alcoholic mishaps, his sister and her children have no such intent.

Agnes tries to break through Shuggie’s unflinching seriousness by getting him to dance with her, celebrating her newfound hope. Shuggie is shocked to find that his sober mother can embarrass him, but Shuggie’s frustration goes beyond his struggle to appreciate normal adolescent embarrassment. His anger is rooted in his ongoing observation of gender dynamics and the ways Agnes allows men to control her. Shuggie has devoted his whole childhood to supporting her, with no appreciation, but she allows men to influence her behavior instantly.

Agnes’s mission to break Shuggie’s composure continues, and this time she is successful. The first emotion that arises is his confusion and shame about being different from other boys. Agnes, who has seen and accepted Shuggie from a young age, reassures him. Her support calms him, as it always has, and Shuggie finally accepts that he can let his constant guard down. His unrestrained farts as he jumps in the makeshift tub show his enjoyment, at last, of a fully childlike moment.

Agnes’s question here shows that she has continued thinking more about Shuggie’s concerns about being different.  Shuggie’s response—asking her what she wants him to be—underscores how devoted he is to his mother, still used to sacrificing his own wishes to make her happy. Despite his brief moment of acting like a kid, Shuggie quickly goes back to worrying about Agnes. He fears that Eugene and the McAvennies are going to hurt her, and any progress she has made will be lost. 

Agnes shows some growing self-awareness as she and the boys watch the show about a drunk woman. Yet, what she notices has everything to do with her own experiences: her failures, her hurts, her shame. Shuggie and Leek’s experiences as innocent victims of Agnes’s alcoholism, however, are not represented on screen at all. They also remember all the terrible moments Agnes was too drunk to be able to recall. This scene shows that while Agnes has healed a good deal in sobriety, those who have been most affected by her drinking are still hurting in ways she does not understand.

This scene further develops Shuggie’s growing resentment about both gender and Agnes’s relationship with Eugene. He notices that certain things he does—things that subject him to mockery and prejudiced intolerance—are considered fully permissible and even beautiful when Agnes does them, simply because she is female. He is also bothered by the way Eugene—and Agnes’s growing attachment to him—encroach on aspects of his and Agnes’s bond. Dancing, however, is something so central to his identity that he manages to push these frustrations away and begins to dance for himself instead of for her.

Shuggie loses his inhibition while dancing, letting his moves reflect the fullness of who he is—which makes it all the more heart-wrenching that his key tormentors, the McAvennies, have seen the whole display. When they make fun of his dancing across the street, they are making fun of the core of him. Agnes seizes this opportunity to give invaluable counsel: she tells him to continue dancing with all he has. Shuggie understands as he dances that he can’t hide who he is, even though he has been trying to do so his whole life, so he might as well enjoy himself.

Though Shuggie, with Agnes’s support, leaned into his identity while dancing, this victory does nothing to stop the daily bullying he experiences at school. Shuggie’s peers are the ones who most directly punish him for being different, but the actions of his gym teacher in this passage show how prejudice and societal norms are passed down from and enforced by adults. Shuggie is not fully innocent, either. His anger at Lachlan is an attempt to defend himself, but it shows that Shuggie has also internalized his mother’s belief that appearance and presentation create a sense of self-worth. He judges Lachlan on his behavior, just as the other kids just Shuggie on his.

This fight, and Shuggie’s classmates’ enthusiastic allegiance toward usually unpopular Lachlan, makes the hierarchy of acceptance clear in the community. Even when Shuggie takes a fair opportunity to get a leg up in the fight, the other kids side with Lachlan and gang up on him. In this community, it seems that people think there is nothing more reprehensible than being queer.

The abuse Shuggie endures makes him wish he was normal, but even something like admiring the pink water left after washing the blood from his face convinces him there is no hope for change. This is thrown into sharp relief by his realization that it is Agnes’s one year anniversary of sobriety, which proves that she has been able to change in a way that he hasn’t been able to, no matter how hard he has tried.

Shuggie still finds joy in this event, despite his difficult day and his frustration with himself. He thrives as a host and is far more equipped to care for others, making them feel welcome in a way other boys his age would be unable to do. Even so, he does not seem to see this as evidence of the ways in which his unique personality allows him to excel. It is also clear that Jinty has made no effort whatsoever to change; she is still at the mercy of her addiction, wishing for alcohol instead of celebrating Agnes.

Meeting Eugene finally gives Shuggie the opportunity to express his concerns about protecting Agnes. By responding that Shuggie should just stop worrying about Agnes, Eugene demonstrates exactly how little he understands about Agnes’s bond with her son, what she has been through, and the way it has affected him. Eugene’s words do hit home when he tells Shuggie to focus on fitting in, though this is dismissive of the effort Shuggie has been making his whole life. Eugene presents the red book of football scores, an emblem of stereotypical masculinity, as if this will easily fix what’s considered wrong with Shuggie—and Shuggie, in turn, feels desperate enough that he’s willing to believe changing will be as simple as memorizing a bunch of football scores. Shuggie longs for this even more after feeling the stirrings of attraction to another young man at the party.

Mary-Doll’s flattering comments about Agnes and her classiness make Eugene even more unable to believe that his girlfriend has anything in common with this young woman or any of the other addicts present—all of whom Eugene finds pitiful. Eugene’s retort that he doesn’t have a problem like hers makes his judgement of Agnes’s Alcoholics Anonymous friends even more apparent. Agnes understands that something is wrong when Eugene leaves, though she is confused about what changed his mood so quickly. 

Eugene’s abrupt departure and lack of explanation stokes Agnes’s long-held fear of abandonment. Swallowing her pride and accepting her faults so she could heal was an essential step in her recovery, but the sudden shame she feels about her friends who are also in recovery shifts something in her. She goes back to her old convictions about her beauty, trying to adjust her appearance to make herself feel better. When this doesn’t work, the valium she takes marks the first serious crack in her year-long sobriety.

Shuggie and Leek started to believe Agnes was going to be okay after a year sober, but they now notice her growing sadness, ultimately suggesting that they’re still hyper-attuned to her moods. Shuggie, who is used to guessing his mother’s mental state from the exterior of their home, does not know what to do when he finds the football cleats and the door locked. Shug’s decision to bring beer for Agnes and cleats for Shuggie represent the people he believes and wants them to be, showing just how out of the loop he has become.

In the same way that Agnes’s harassing phone calls represent her anger and connects her to others while she is drinking, her lack of calls when she is sober shows the rage she has let go of in order to pursue more positive relationships. Shug’s selfishness is in full display in this visit; he seemingly prefers to have Agnes in his life, even if that means she’s not doing well. After considering her beauty, his reflection that he’d be willing to say anything to her in order to sleep with her also follows his long-standing prioritization of his own pleasure over others’ well-being.

Shug’s initial tactics to manipulate Agnes are colored by kindness and generosity, but her lack of response shows how much she has changed since he abandoned her years ago. Gifts and booze would have, at one point, meant the world to her, but her compulsions—or at least the way she manages them—have changed along with her drinking habits.

Because flattery is ineffective, Shug actively tries to cut Agnes down, bringing up the grandchildren she didn’t even know about in order to bend her to his will. When Shug wonders if Shuggie is anything like him, Agnes is firm and proud when she says no—even if Shuggie would be better accepted by his peers if he were like his father. Agnes leaving to process her grief alone also shows considerable growth, as she has historically relied on alcohol and others in times of strife.

Agnes leaving to handle her hurt privately gives Shug the opportunity to assess her home. Deciding that she must have a man, he doubles down on his commitment to have her even if it ruins her life. When he wanders down the hall, he explicitly ignores her desire for space. Agnes’s assertion that Shuggie has nothing in common with his father is not an attempt at revenge, as it likely would have been when Agnes was drinking, but an effort to show Shug that there is nothing left for him here. 

Giving Shug’s beer to Jinty represents a significant victory of will on Agnes’s part. In doing so, Agnes is demonstrating a generosity that Jinty has never showed her. That action is made even more meaningful to Shuggie given that his mother and Eugene’s relationship seems to be ending—something that would have sent Agnes into a spiral of drunkenness in the past. Shuggie’s amazement at his mother’s strength is also informed by the coziness of their home; his belief in Agnes has begun to grow not only because of her words, but because she continues to make him feel safe.

Eugene’s choice to take Agnes to an abandoned colliery (coal mine) is strikingly different from their earlier dates, when he took her out to show her off in public. Both this and their conversation confirm Agnes’s suspicion that Eugene is having second thoughts about their relationship. In the past, this would have triggered her intense fear of being abandoned by those she loves. Agnes’s strength in rejecting Shug has reinforced her commitment, though, giving her the strength to reaffirm that she is exactly as messed up as the other recovering addicts, even if it makes her boyfriend think less of her.

Instead of listening to Agnes, Eugene seems intent to show her he knows better. He thus takes her to the nicest place in town in an effort to sway her. This, alongside his intense flattery, plays on her old longing for an exciting, fancy life. At the beginning of their relationship, he was clear that he couldn’t provide this for her, but his need to convince her to be the person he wants her to be has ultimately overshadowed his honesty. Just as soon as he builds her up and assures her of his affection, he holds her hope hostage by saying that he can’t give her real love if her alcoholism is really as big a problem as she claims. 

Eugene’s attempt to persuade Agnes is not dissimilar from the cunning manipulation tactics used earlier by Jinty to convince Agnes to drink. In vocalizing that he won’t make her do anything, he draws attention away from the extreme pressure he’s putting on her. Like Jinty, no malice is likely intended, but he is similarly only thinking of his best interests. Unlike Jinty, Eugene does not have the excuse of addiction as driver for his selfishness. Instead, he is selfish in the way only men are allowed to be in this culture.

Eugene is confident in his argument, putting pressure on Agnes until he wears down her resolve. Ultimately, he convinces her to drink because she wants him to be right, and she lets that desire win out over her caution. Because she does not immediately spiral out of control, she even starts to believe that she was wrong to refuse alcohol in the first place.

Eugene’s insistence that Agnes can handle drinking again is as arrogant as it is wrong. Everything about their resulting sexual encounter undermines Agnes’s sense of worth and safety, from the lack of pleasure to the coins falling out of Eugene’s pockets. The drunken, gratuitous sex in Eugene’s taxi also calls up Agnes’s memory of her rape, bringing the symbolism of abuse in black cabs full circle. Both Leek and Shuggie are also drawn back into their past traumas. Shuggie’s body revolts against him as it used to, and Leek’s love drives him to rage, pushing him to enact violence against Eugene.

Fighting with Eugene has burned through all of Agnes’s resolve, making her drinking worse than it has ever been. Shuggie and Leek seem to revert almost instantly to their old roles as well, leaving Leek intentionally isolated and Shuggie alone with his feeling of responsibility for Agnes’s well-being. The old anger that kept Agnes glued to the phone on her benders has returned. Her lack of interest in Shuggie’s hunger or his staining of the drapes show that her resentment and thirst have even overpowered her extreme preoccupation with appearances.

Agnes is so far gone that she has lost all interest in Shuggie’s attention. There is no real care behind her giving him change for a bath. It is like a toll she needs to pay in order to leave the house without resistance; Shuggie is now only an obstacle in her commitment to destroying herself. Her suggestion that they start the year right is language that is not backed up by action in any way, but Shuggie wants to believe there is still hope. He works on memorizing the football scores in the tub in an attempt to address his own supposed issues (which, of course, are only problematic insofar as he lives in a bigoted, homophobic culture).

Agnes’s insistence that Shuggie take the beer to Colleen shows that her pettiness is back in full force, even if she says it’s an act of good will. Shuggie refuses to do what Agnes requests, knowing that the fallout of the angry McAvennies will likely come his way—they torment him enough as is. The difference between this year and last year’s holiday is striking. It highlights Shuggie’s intense hunger, making him desperate enough to drink the beer despite his distaste for it. Agnes takes advantage of Shuggie’s distraction to flee. It is no coincidence that she leaves in a cab—a consistent harbinger of hurt.

Eugene lingers in the picture, though it is hard to say if he stays out of guilt for pushing Agnes to try drinking again or if he actually believes that he can help her get back to her state of sobriety. Either way, the dynamic between the two has shifted. In coming by in the morning, he both avoids Leek’s notice and the need to take Agnes out in public as he once did. Agnes, in turn, clings to him and begins calling his dispatch office as she used to do with Shug: just another way she has fallen back into her old behaviors when drinking.

In addition to the ill omen of the taxi that takes Agnes away, the open door is once more symbolic of the interior state of the house; Agnes is long gone, exposed to the full dangers of the world. The address book, like the phone it sits next to, is emblematic of Agnes’s fraught, angry connections to the outside world. The book contains the volume and complexities of her alcohol-fueled resentments, and Shuggie is overwhelmed by it.

Once Shuggie has some food in his stomach and the shock of Agnes’s utter abandonment wears off, he commits (ever her caretaker) to finding her. His quick thinking in redialing the phone and using Agnes’s address book to track her goes far beyond what most children his age would be able to accomplish. Despite his year-long break from these adult responsibilities, Shuggie has been developing these skills from a very young age. Still, he longs for his mother like a boy much younger might when he smells her fragrance on the phone.

Once Shuggie finds where Agnes has gone, he faces a whole new set of obstacles. He successfully tackles these as well, forced to survive and driven by his feeling of commitment for Agnes, who can’t feel any such responsibility for her child in her drunken haze. The cab driver’s interest in Shuggie begins with his notice of Shuggie’s peculiarities, though Shuggie is nonchalant in response, saying that he just takes pride in his appearance.

From his experience with other neglected children, the cabby sees through Shuggie’s refinement and sees his need. The driver’s motivations in offering him attention and food seem good natured to Shuggie, who is more used to dealing with individuals like Shug or Jinty, whose selfish actions are not effectively veiled by benevolence. Because of Agnes’s beliefs about appearance, Shuggie also tends to believe well-kept individuals are more trustworthy.

While the cabby initially complimented Shuggie’s apparent sophistication, it becomes very clear that his interest is not in Shuggie’s maturity. Instead, he sees a child who is alone; like others before him, he takes advantage of the vulnerable position that Agnes’s alcohol-fueled absence has put Shuggie in. Shuggie understands enough to know that he cannot appeal to predators nor fight them off, so instead he tries to scare the man off by implying that there are men in his life the cabby should be afraid of.

Shuggie’s distrust of men understandably escalates immediately after his encounter with the driver. When he stumbles on the drunk couple in the stairwell, he cannot move on until he knows the woman is not being hurt like the cabby hurt him. The sight of the other boy, who unlike him is being cared for, also stops Shuggie in place. The shock of his own trauma and disappoint at not being able to find Agnes begins to overwhelm him until Agnes emerges. Seeing that she is unwell, Shuggie chooses to quash his own hurt and focus on caring for her instead.

All the good things that Agnes built over her year of sobriety—a sense of purpose, true friendships, romantic companionship—have been lost. She cites her own beauty and the jealousy of others for these loses because she is unwilling to stop drinking and rebuild her happiness; it is easier to blame outside factors. Leek’s tolerance of this behavior has run out, and he is no longer willing to ignore the problem in order to keep the peace.

Unlike Leek, Shuggie does not know what to do except follow through on supporting his mother, even if he’s enabling her. In his confrontation with the government worker, Shuggie unfairly shoulders the blowback from Agnes’s decisions. Though the woman may be trying to help Shuggie by cutting Agnes off and forcing him to stay in school, the reality is that he suffers disproportionately either way. Even though Shuggie is missing school and starving because of Agnes’s sickness, he is still committed to lying about their extravagant dinners to protect her pride in front of the neighbors.

Agnes has sunken so far into her alcoholism that she lies and manipulates freely all while feigning innocence—just as Jinty did at Agnes’s expense earlier. Beer is the only thing keeping her afloat, so she is willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to keep her stash stocked. As the hope of Agnes getting better fades from view, Shuggie does not turn away. In some ways, he has nowhere else to go aside from Agnes, as he is still rejected by everyone else in the community because of his queerness. His love for Agnes, in spite of the position she has put him, endures.

As his home life falls apart, Shuggie’s copes by creating this makeshift living room, which provides him a rare safe place over which he maintains control. His impulse to add beauty to the space reflects the best parts of Agnes—parts he has internalized, even though they have been overshadowed by her drinking. The care with which he prepares the rabbit’s body and buries it also reveals a tenderness that he has managed to maintain despite the difficulty of his situation.

Again, the open door tells Shuggie that there is a severe breach of normalcy and safety in the house before he even walks in to discover Agnes’s suicide attempt. The seeming innocuousness of the razor reflects how even the smallest things have become dangerous to Agnes in her state of addiction. Despite Leek and Shuggie’s constant vigilance in trying to protect her, Agnes seems determined to find any opportunity to escalate the situation. She does so without regard for herself, let alone the people who love her, fighting them even as they try to help.

Agnes fights frantically against Leek’s attempts to save her life as she continues to lose large quantities of blood, just as she fights both her sons’ attempts to care for her and save her from the slow death her alcoholism is causing. Her insistence that they do not love her despite all evidence to the contrary has nothing to do with their efforts; she instead is projecting her own fear that she is unlovable onto them.

While Leek and Eugene have been at odds and have avoided each other since Eugene helped break Agnes’s sobriety, their mutual love of her brings them together as she recovers. Though Agnes had been adamant that Leek didn’t love her and that she was too tired to keep living, her choice to call Leek’s foreman before her suicide attempt shows she still has some remaining will to live.

Agnes’s attempt at her own life was serious enough, however, for her to consider calling Shug to come get Shuggie. This is not something she would have considered as a kindness to Shuggie in her right mind. Instead, it served as another cry for help that backfired when Shug showed up for Shuggie. Agnes’s anger at Leek for letting this situation play out is fully misdirected. Even her near death is not able to scare her out of her spiraling delusions.

Agnes telling Shug that he has finally won Shuggie from her is not out of character, since she began drinking again, but  Shug coming like Agnes asked him to is a departure from his typical response. It is unclear what shifted to cause this change. Shug’s tense conversation at the payphone and his worried mustache rubbing suggest that he made the decision to bring home Shuggie without consulting Joanie, as well.

Shuggie is well aware that Agnes’s main complaint against Shug—aside from his infidelity—is that he failed to follow through on his promise of a better life. His empty promise now makes the size of Shug and Joanie’s house seem especially unfair, since this is clearly the kind of life Shug falsely claimed he would give Agnes and Shuggie. What bothers Shuggie the most, though, is how close everyone in Shug and Joanie’s family is—a closeness that is nothing like the fraught, messy relationships in Shuggie’s own household.

By staying in the room of his half-brother who shares the same name as Shuggie and their father, Shuggie feels particularly struck by the differences between he and the other Hugh. While Shuggie has been attempting to appear more masculine for years, Hugh’s burgeoning manhood is apparent in the state of the room. Still, there is a sense of carefree living in Hugh’s room that Shuggie has never experienced. Unlike Shuggie, Hugh has always had a father in the house, which is significant compared to the mere hours Shuggie has spent with Shug since he abandoned the family. It is as if he has been dropped in the alternate, Protestant life he might have had if Agnes hadn’t been his mother.

Shug and Joanie’s behavior toward Shuggie make it clear that he is barely welcome in their home. Though Shuggie is only a child and has done nothing—in fact, he has just lived through yet another trauma—all the family’s disdain for Agnes lands on Shuggie by proxy. Shuggie is used to caring for himself, so his only real fear is how Agnes, who has always been the center of his world, is doing. As he bides his time and worries, he drops the toy soldiers of his counterpart, Hugh, from great height—an expression of his frustration.

Since she and Shug have guardianship over Shuggie, Joanie has an upper hand over Agnes for the first time in years. Agnes comes in person, but not before donning her perpetual armor of fine clothing and makeup. After such a terrible incident, Agnes is determined to communicate that she has not lost her dignity. This is not confidence enough for her mission, however. She is already drinking again to bolster her resolve, and the money has run so low she has to bust open the meters for change to get to Shuggie.

Without an immediate answer at the door, Agnes’s anger rises. She seems bent on destroying the respectable home that Shug once promised her and has given to Joanie instead. It is also particularly fitting that Agnes’s fancy heels land the blow to Joanie’s head. They function as a symbol for Agnes’s beautiful, curated appearance, which she uses to combat the judgement of others and maintain her pride.

The motivation behind Shug’s warning to Shuggie could be interpreted as either a final stab at Agnes or a genuine caution for his son. Regardless of Shug’s intent, Shuggie’s response shows how committed he is to believing his mother may change, even in the face of significant evidence to the contrary. Agnes’s motives in asking Shuggie not to cry are more straightforward—she is trying to save whatever face she can in front of Shug and the Micklewhites. Despite Shuggie’s comment to his father, it seems that he knows deep down that he cannot trust Agnes, even if he still hopes she gets better.

In the months following Agnes’s suicide attempt, Eugene has stepped up as a temporary caretaker for her. Whatever truce was reached between Leek and Eugene at Agnes’s bedside has since ended. Eugene’s habit of stocking the house with food and stopping in each day is largely driven by his own guilt and pity for Agnes. In reading Agnes’s ad, Eugene sees that the tentative holding pattern they have reached will likely not last much longer.

Agnes’s desire to move away from Pithead and her constant picking at her scabs shows her growing restlessness. Because she feels she has permanently lost her pride in their current community, she knows there is no hope left for her there. Eugene and Shuggie’s joke about switching shifts for Agnes’s care highlights the difficult work that watching over Agnes has become. It also underscores that Shuggie, an adolescent, has developed the same sense of responsibility as Eugene, who is a fully grown man.

It is apparent that Agnes has misjudged Eugene’s commitment to her, though Eugene has not been transparent about his intentions either. When Eugene tells Agnes that he does not like when she is drunk, his role in her life comes full circle. It seems he has discharged his feeling of indebtedness to her, so he now abandons her just as all the other men in her life have done, pushed away by her addiction (which he himself fueled).

Drinking becomes Agnes’s catch-all activity, and she keeps company only with people who enable her. Just as taxis symbolize abandonment by men for Agnes, they begin to symbolize Agnes’s abandonment of Shuggie. Her alcoholism has begun to take precedence over everything else: beauty, pride, and family. Shuggie’s determination to care for his mother does not waiver in response to her rejection of him, but his attempts to study in between benders shows that he still longs for a life outside her codependency with Agnes. 

Interestingly, Shuggie has learned that instead of persuading Agnes not to drink, he can use alcohol to keep her bound to the house. Shuggie finds no real enjoyment in Agnes’s presence any longer; he just prefers to have her around only so he can rest easy knowing she’s safe from the people who will likely take advantage of her outside. When Leek disturbs the peace that Shuggie managed to arrange, the brothers fight. The two are increasingly at odds because Leek’s primary goal is escaping Agnes, which butts against Shuggie’s compulsion to care for her.

Agnes’s regard for Leek and Shuggie has been totally eclipsed by her drinking. She is locked in her own experiences and desires. When Agnes sees that Leek has spent money on himself rather than contributing to their communal welfare—glossing over the certainty that she would have only spent that money on more alcohol—her anger goes far beyond reason. Her usual sensitivity to Shuggie’s differences is gone as well, and she coopts homophobic language in an effort to tear Leek down, not caring how it makes Shuggie feel.

Leek tries to fix the situation, but Agnes is in no state for mercy; something shifts in him when he sees this, however. He understands her rejection of him could be an opportunity to be an adult for himself, as opposed to the way he has stepped up to fill the hole left by Agnes’s absence of responsibility. Being the older brother, Leek has failed to see how much Shuggie has also shouldered over the years. In many ways, Shuggie has carried more than Leek, since he has not only looked out for Agnes’s physical safety but also her emotional well-being. While Leek’s instructions on keeping dangerous household items and men away from Agnes and money stashed for food read as condescending to Shuggie, his admonishment that Shuggie finish school hits home.

With Leek leaving, Shuggie feels like the full weight of ensuring Agnes doesn’t harm herself now falls to him. At a younger age, Leek felt this same pressure, and his conversation with his little brother is an attempt to help Shuggie realize that he needs to look out for himself first—because Agnes never will. Shuggie is not ready to see the situation as Leek has come to.

In an increasingly rare moment of sobriety—or withdrawal in between benders, at least—Agnes sees her son with fresh eyes. She sees him not as a man or a child, but stuck somewhere in between, just as the two have become stuck in Pithead. Agnes harnesses her momentary clarity to fix herself up before going to post her ad, girding herself with confidence as she has done for her previous moves.

Colleen’s comments show that she has seen through Agnes’s carefully crafted image, underneath which Colleen only sees vanity, judgement, and overcompensation. Shuggie, too, is lumped into Colleen’s critique, though this is largely just because he is different. Agnes rebuffs Colleen’s very accurate assessment of her by cutting her down based on her cleanliness, taste, and marriage. Her declaration that she had bad sex with Jamesy and saw his dirty underwear combines all three insults. Though Agnes’s admission confirms some of her most shameful drunken behavior, her main goal is to deeply injure Colleen; she succeeds.

As usual, Shuggie is the one who bears the brunt of Agnes’s inflammatory behavior. Shuggie’s classmates are never nice to him, so the McAvennies’ kind demeanor reads immediately as a red flag to him. The McAvennie boy’s quiet request to kiss him does take Shuggie by surprise, however. Shuggie’s attraction to other boys makes him pause, but he sees through the rouse to get to him. Shuggie’s payback is not considered an equal offense, however. The price for standing up for himself—potentially getting stabbed—is always higher than it would be for anyone else because of the prejudice of his peers.

Shuggie and Agnes’s preparations for moving are another example of how central appearance and pride are to Agnes. More than her loving son, her intelligence, or her will, Agnes trusts that the right wardrobe and new people who haven’t seen her pride crumble will ensure her happiness. Agnes’s purchase of a whole new closet on credit is also a continuation of the constant striving, overextending, and dissatisfaction that played a large part in the end of her and Shug’s marriage. Just as Agnes’s previous relationships with men overshadowed all her other concerns, Shuggie sees his mother prioritizing her pride over him and is deeply hurt by it. For one of the first times in the novel, Shuggie summons the courage to challenge Agnes on her commitment to starting fresh.

Agnes is, perhaps unintentionally, equating her drinking problem with Shuggie’s queerness, even though she struggles with a sickness whereas Shuggie’s queerness is an earnest expression of his identity. Ultimately, the message that Shuggie receives is that the chance to be “normal” and admired is more important that honoring his identity. Still, he is so hopeful that Agnes will finally be okay that he doesn’t feel hurt by her suggestion that they change together. All he has ever wanted is to be accepted and cared for, and he has always been willing to sacrifice almost anything to realize those dreams.