Shuggie Bain

by

Douglas Stuart

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Shuggie Bain: Chapter Two: 1981, Sighthill Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
On a night 11 years earlier, Agnes Bain leans out a window into the night air. She wants to feel alive and important, to dance and be seen, to be desired and envied. Though she is at home instead of out dancing, she is wearing a red velvet dress and pretending she can fly. She considers what would happen if she leaned out further and fell, just as her cigarette has fallen from where she stands on the 16th floor. Her life is not the way she imagined it would be. She is 39 and lives with her husband and three children in her parents’ tiny apartment, surviving solely on credit and paycheck to paycheck, overwhelmed by all the empty promises that her husband has made her.
Agnes once envisioned an extravagant, exciting life for herself, but instead she’s left daydreaming of her youth, wishing she could still be out dancing instead of confined with the other women inside. Leaning out a window in a lowcut dress, considering falling, is the only thrilling outlet she can find. Likewise, she compensates for her lack of wealth by spending money she doesn’t have on clothing in catalogues, imagining this might get her closer to the life she has always dreamed of. Further underscoring her longing and frustration, she deeply resents Shug, who promised her much more than she has ended up with. 
Themes
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Agnes rejoins the room, where a card game is being played by her friends and mother. She wants to dance, putting on music, but the other women pull her back into the game. They chatter and play and eat fried fish. Agnes watches, bored, and thinks back to when they were fifteen and they used to go dancing. Agnes would lead her friends, getting them into clubs though they were underaged. She was so fixated on her beauty that she convinced her mother to let her replace her mediocre teeth with porcelain dentures.
Normal expectations for middle-aged women—to play cards and spend time with friends—just don’t satisfy Agnes. Though she succumbs to peer pressure and rejoins the group, her mind is elsewhere as she remembers how beautiful and fun they all used to be. They used to dance, which serves as a symbol of joy and hope; no one is dancing now, and it robs Agnes of her belief in a happy new future. Her memory of replacing her teeth also highlights how her vanity has motivated her even from a young age. She willingly sacrificed her own comfort to look like a movie star, assuming the pain would pay off when her beauty guaranteed her a fabulous life. This makes her all the more bitter to find herself living a meager, boring life.
Themes
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Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
Quotes
Now, the middle-aged women spend their Fridays at home playing cards. No one wears makeup or wants to sing anymore, and only their weekly card game gives them a break from their families. The women continue to squabble good-naturedly, accusing each other of cheating. Agnes drinks a stout, wishing she had something stronger. She gets up, bringing out a bag of bras that she promises are “magic.” She undresses in front of them and clasps hers on, and the other women follow suit. Nan, who usually wins the most amount of money on their card nights, tries to get everyone back to the game at hand. Lizzie opens a pack of cigarettes that the other women convince her to share.
Agnes’s dissatisfaction with her current life is only accentuated by her peers’ apparent lack of care about their appearance. In this scene, Agnes starts drinking, using it as a coping mechanism for her unhappiness and boredom. By introducing miracle bras to the other women, she’s attempting to motivate them to present themselves better and infuse some sexiness into the evening. She puts on one of the bras to encourage the other women when they hesitate, taking pride in her own boldness.
Themes
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Catherine, Agnes’s oldest daughter, comes out with Shuggie in tow, complaining that he won’t sleep. She doesn’t seem to notice that all the women are half-naked. Her grandmother, Lizzie, prods at Catherine’s hips, which she finds unfemininely narrow, remarking that it’s good luck her intelligence has landed her an important job, since her looks are wanting. The women encourage Catherine to open two bank accounts now, so that she can retain one in secret after she marries—they all have men at home who have wasted their money. Nan sends Catherine back to bed with Shuggie, trying to resume cards again. Agnes asks if Leek, her middle son, is home, and Catherine responds that he might be. He is too quiet to tell.
Catherine endures the judgements about her physical appearance and recommendations about money from the older women without much frustration, showing that she’s used to this dynamic. The advice she receives about finances is an attempt to teach her how to protect herself from men who will spend all her money, which seems to have happened to many of Agnes’s friends. In contrast, Leek is getting no such warnings or education; he is left alone to do as he pleases, flying under the radar. It appears that all responsibility is put on women to ensure their families are surviving, while expectations for men are nonexistent.
Themes
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Pride and Appearances Theme Icon
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They keep playing and losing money until Agnes gets up once more, dancing in the living room with a drink in her hand. She convinces everyone but Lizzie to join, and they all gyrate together in their new bras, moving like they did when they were much younger. Lizzie sits alone at the table drinking cold tea. She abstains from alcohol to set a good Catholic example for Agnes, who she thinks drinks too much. Agnes is aware, however, that Lizzie and her father Wullie have a secret stash of whisky in their bedroom, which they drink on the sly. As the other women dance, Lizzie leaves to sneak a drink.
Agnes’s dancing is an attempt to regain hopefulness in her situation, fueled by the effects of her drink. In her intoxicated state, she seems to infect the other women with her wistfulness, convincing them to join her in her longing for what they used to be. This scene also sheds light on Agnes’s relationship with her mother. Lizzie’s temperance, both in personality and alcohol consumption, is not a true reflection of her personality, instead reflecting her desire to help her increasingly out of control daughter.
Themes
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Once again, Nan calls the women to the table, trying to get back to business and pulling out the catalogue from which she sells goods. The women all owe her money, having to buy their everyday necessities from her on credit. No one seems to own their lives fully, always renting instead. Ann Marie and Nan argue over Ann Marie’s inability to pay. She says her plans have changed due to her man’s flakiness, so Nan tells her to pick better men.
The women, probably accurately, blame their men for their inability to pay their debts to Nan. Nan’s assessment that the women should pick better men is less of a judgement about their individual choices of partner and more about the women’s shared understanding that men cannot be relied on, and they must instead look out for themselves and their children. Trusting men only leads to more trouble, which Agnes’s experiences throughout the novel support.
Themes
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The mood shifts when Shug, Shuggie’s father, comes in the door. Agnes feels his judgement as he takes in the sight of them sitting in their bras. He asks if anyone needs a ride home, and the women start filing out of the apartment. Shug studies them. Though he is aging out of his good looks, Agnes still sees the intensity and charm that pulled her to him and away from her first husband. Though he was a dedicated, hard-working Catholic man, Agnes grew bored of him. She was originally dazzled by his Protestant flash. Lizzie knew Shug was trouble and disapproved of interfaith marriage, but Wullie convinced Lizzie to give him a chance for Agnes’s sake. Now, Agnes understands that there is something wild in Shug that grows daily, both in his animalistic eating habits and how he lusts blatantly after her friends.
The women in the group are all Catholics, so Shug’s presence is doubly alienating due to his masculinity and his Protestantism. As the other women leave, Agnes’s reflection on Shug’s different background and worsening desire show how they were mismatched to begin with. They have only grown apart, which has led to a preoccupation about his potential adultery, leading her to read into all of his interactions with her and Lizzie’s friends. Her drinking is an attempt to cope with her fear of abandonment, but in reality it only exacerbates her fears.
Themes
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Quotes
Everyone but Reeny and Ann Marie have left the apartment. Agnes observes a wordless exchange between Ann Marie and Shug, but her concern solidifies only when Shug offers Reeny a ride home. He tells Agnes not to wait up, but she does anyway. When Lizzie’s judgement grows too much, Agnes wanders down the hall to check on the boys. Leek draws on his sketchpad by flashlight while Shuggie is out cold. When Agnes goes to kiss Leek goodnight, he pulls away from her when he smells the beer on her breath.
Agnes’s fear about Shug’s infidelity makes her paranoid about how her friends interact with him, which is only made worse by her mother’s aggressive judgement of Shug and their incompatibility from the start. Agnes seems to be searching for some source of happiness and meaning, so she goes to her sleeping children. They don’t make up for Shug’s distance though; in fact, Leek’s implied judgement about her drinking only makes her feel more alone.
Themes
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Agnes continues to her room. Hidden under her mattress is a mostly empty bottle of vodka, which she empties into a paper cup. As she drinks, she looks out at the city lights and recalls the first time her husband did not come home. After calling around to the area hospitals, she pulled out her black book of contacts and rang each of her friends. On these calls, she had listened not to the other women, but to the background noise, hoping to catch Shug there. In the present, she imagines telling them all she knows about her husband’s cheating and their secret meetings, about the promises he makes and then breaks. Even in her anger, she understands; he said the same things to her long ago.
Agnes’s poor coping mechanisms—her drinking, her paranoia about Shug cheating, and her accusations of other women—are clearly rooted in a larger pattern of absence on her husband’s part. Her anger and hurt are undercut by her shame about the start of her and Shug’s relationship, because she did exactly what she imagines her husband’s mistresses are doing. Having cheated on her husband to be with Shug, fooled by his magnanimous personality and the promises he made her about a better life, Agnes knows her paranoia is, in truth, fully plausible.
Themes
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In a flashback, Agnes remembers a trip she and Shug took to the seaside. They walked down the fully illuminated boardwalk, which stunned Agnes with its beauty. Shug was also a sight to see as he lifted her up, dressed in a suit that made him look like “somebody.” Shug remarked that the lights of their neighborhood would look bleak in comparison when they returned home, but Agnes begged him not to talk about home. She wanted to imagine they had run away. As they continued on their way, they tried not to think about the trials of daily life.
The joy that Agnes and Shug feel during this trip is rooted in an escapist fantasy. Agnes’s intense happiness in this moment is rooted in the aesthetic they have achieved on their vacation—Shug’s sharp, tailored suit makes him like the person Agnes wishes he was and originally imagined he would be. He is looking up at her with adoration, giving her his full loving attention. By waiving off his mention of home, she attempts to stay in this dreamlike state a little longer.
Themes
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As men on the boardwalk turned to look appreciatively at Agnes, Shug felt a surge of pride in his wife. He pulled her manically down the promenade by the wrist, wanting to show her off and show her the sights, too. Agnes begged him to slow down, and when he released her, a red welt showed where his hand had been. In embarrassment, Shug told her not to begin arguing with him. She tried to placate him by saying that she just wanted to take things in more slowly, and she suggested they get a drink to right the mood.
Shug’s happiness in this scene is also based in wish fulfillment. Agnes is as beautiful as ever, but here she is being noticed by others, and as her man, he feels others envying and respecting him. Her complaint about his tight, eager grip disrupts the illusion that she is a simple object of beauty. The hit to his pride stirs shame, which incites his anger.
Themes
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At the bar, Agnes ordered a Brandy Alexander, and Shug ordered a glass of milk, complaining when it was brought in a children’s cup. The coupled smoked as they drank, and Agnes eventually suggested they move to the seaside permanently so they could be happy. Shug only laughed and shook his head, saying he couldn’t keep up with her plans. Agnes’s mind had already shifted gears, though. She downed a second brandy in one mouthful and insisted they go play bingo. She was feeling lucky.
Agnes’s behavior is a desperate effort to keep their dreamlike happiness in place, to keep Shug there with her in a rare moment of connection. It is too late; Shug has already been startled awake. The arrival of his milk in a child’s cup makes him feel disrespected, and Agnes’s suggestion that they stay at the beach sounds like another of her quickly changing whims. The alcohol Agnes consumed in hopes of calming down and holding on to Shug just makes her more unable to read the signs of Shug’s growing frustration.
Themes
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Later that night, at the couples’ bed and breakfast, Agnes laid out drunk on the carpeted steps to their room. She sang loudly, igniting the anger of other lodgers. Shug put his hand over her mouth, trying to quiet her, but Agnes just licked his palm in response. This angered him enough to grab her hard by the cheeks, threatening her to get up. Agnes paused for a moment before spitting in his face. Shug then grabbed her by the hair and put an arm around her neck to pull her up the stairs, tearing out her hair and burning her skin where it dragged on the carpet.
Again, Agnes is lost in her fantasy, anchored there by her drunkenness. Drinking, which Agnes uses to cope with all negative emotions, only ever serves to push people further away from her. The influence of alcohol makes her defiant rather than repentant.  She seems fully unaware of Shug’s intensifying anger until he begins to hurt her. While Agnes copes with drinking, Shug responds to his loss of control with violence.
Themes
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Inside the room, she inspected her body. Shug watched and insisted he hadn’t hurt her. In the mirror, he caught a glimpse of himself. His appearance was disheveled, and the bald spot he tried so hard to hide was uncovered. He then lunged at Agnes again, grabbing her by the neck and thigh and throwing her on the bed. She clamped her legs to evade him, but Shug dug his fingernails into the skin of her legs until it tore, and then her legs opened. He raped her, only calming down afterward. With his face pressed to her neck, he told her that they would go dancing the next day.
This violence does not make Shug feel better. He feels some embarrassment about his actions, but any remorse is overwhelmed by the sight of his exposed bald spot, which further undercuts his pride and causes his rage to spike once more. He regains his composure after assaulting his wife because he finally feels in control again. His promise to take her dancing, an attempt at reconciliation, only comes once he feels his position of dominance return.
Themes
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Quotes
Back home in 1981, Shug heads out for a night of cab-driving. As the sky gets darker, he drives his normal route through Glasgow toward the town center. He winds through the seedier, secret parts of the city on his way. He observes people as he drives, trying not to catch sight of his own balding head in the rearview mirror. He considers the rainy Glasgow weather, reflecting that most people just settle for the bus since they’ll get wet either way, though girls leaving the club are usually an exception. He parks in front of one. As he waits, he smokes and listens to the voice of Joanie Micklewhite on the CB radio as he does every night, finding it soothing.
This scene is the first time Shug appears in the novel on his own, his character depicted directly and not through another character’s perspective. He observes and judges others as he drives, all the while obsessing over his bald spot, revealing the same kind of vanity that drives Agnes. Winding around in the dark, Shug’s work seems fraught with feelings of restlessness and loneliness. His feelings toward Joanie’s voice—foreshadowing his affair with her—and his decision to pass the clubs looking for young women suggest a preference for female company. As Agnes reflects earlier, Shug’s lust is a key motivating factor for his character.
Themes
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Just when Shug thinks he has found a fare in a drunk young girl, he is intercepted by an old man. He is drunk and chatty, asking Shug if he saw the recent game and what team he supported. Guessing the man is Protestant, Shug lies and says he supports the Celtics in hopes it will shut the man up. He waves Shug off but keeps ranting to himself about unions and Catholics. Shug’s next passenger is a middle-aged woman, who complains about her husband getting laid off from the iron works and her sons’ inability to find work without leaving the country. He sympathizes. Driving his cab, Shug has seen how the city continues to change, how men are left emasculated without work as the economy turns from industry to technology. When the woman tries to tip Shug, he refuses, but she insists.
Though Shug is evidently lonely, he avoids any potential connection with the elderly Protestant man in his cab. In contrast, he finds himself moved by his next passenger, a woman who has clearly endured hard times. Her story about her family’s struggles with unemployment strike a nerve in Shug. He sees the changes occurring in the country as disproportionately impacting patriarchal structures, which are deeply held values for him. This disruption of stereotypical masculine dynamics destabilizes Shug’s sense of control, which stokes his erratic anger issues.
Themes
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All the movies and most of the clubs have let out by the time Shug gets back downtown, and the other club goers won’t be out for hours still. He decides to wait, hoping some lonely and unattractive girl will try to leave earlier. Soon, though, Joanie Micklewhite calls out to him over the radio, telling him to call into the station. Shug is convinced it is Agnes trying to get ahold of him, but instead Joanie tells him it’s a request for him up at the hospital.
The complexities of Shug’s relationship with women are further explored in this passage. His hope for a desperate, ugly girl to show up looking for a ride highlights both his and society’s misogynistic treatment of women. Shug has also clearly grown used to harassing phone calls from Agnes while he is at work—a habit that has the effect of pushing him away rather than pulling him closer as she intends—so he is surprised when the call turns out to be from someone else.
Themes
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When he arrives, Ann Marie is waiting outside, shivering and surrounded by doubts, which is Glaswegian slang for cigarette butts. He smiles, realizing how fully he has her under his thumb. The two have been having an affair. He berates her for calling him all the way out there just to say hi, insisting that they have to remain discreet or else Agnes will ruin her. Ann Marie begins to cry and insists that she loves him. He pulls into a far shadowy parking spot and tells her to take off her underwear.
This is the first confirmation that Agnes’s fear that Shug has been cheating on her is well-founded. Though his request that Ann Marie be more subtle is delivered as if it’s for her own good, Shug is really just hoping to avoid further drama with Agnes. Shug is unmoved by Ann Marie’s admission of love, indicating his relationship with her is motivated entirely by sex and escapism from his marriage.
Themes
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After, Shug drives back into the city, reflecting that he’ll have to break up with Ann Marie, who is beautiful but too clingy. Again, Joanie comes in over the radio, this time telling him harshly to call home. When he does, Agnes picks up and is extremely drunk. Repeatedly, she tells him that she knows what he is doing. He pleads with her not to call his work anymore so that he won’t get fired. He tells her he loves her and hangs up. In anger, he shatters the glass of the phone booth and breaks the receiver.
Shug’s affairs function as outlets for his sexual desire without the complications of commitment and expectation, which have estranged him from his wife. Ann Marie’s call to the taxi service mirrors Agnes’s, revealing her growing attachment. This is the opposite of what Shug wants from women, therefore spelling the end of his affair with Ann Marie. He is unwilling to end his marriage, however, and instead takes his frustration out violently.
Themes
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He goes to the chippy, a restaurant for fried food, thinking that will make him feel better. There, he talks with the owner about a government-subsidized house that the owner is willing to rent to Shug. Shug tells the man to keep holding it for him. He intends to move Agnes and the kids there, though he is not ready to do so yet. After eating, Shug finishes his shift. The city is peaceful as the sun rises. He drives into the station, toward Joanie, who he is also having an affair with. Shug waits in the lot, excited to say things to her that can’t be said over radio.
Shug makes plans to move the family out of the city, where a new start may be possible, but he also continues to carry out multiple affairs, including one with his coworker Joanie. Even as he speaks with the owner of the house they may rent, he hesitates in following through. This inconsistency points to Shug’s internal battle about whether to stay with or abandon Agnes.
Themes
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At the Bains’ home on a different night, Agnes and Shuggie are sitting on the bed after a bath they’ve taken together, though Agnes decides he’s getting too old and aware to see her naked. As she combs his hair, Shuggie plays with toy cars and unknowingly traces the scars Shug left on his mother’s thighs. She cracks open another lager she had hidden, giving the empty can to her son, who likes the pin-up girl pictures on the cans. He collects them and uses them as dolls, making them talk about clothing and cheating men. While Shug thinks this habit is a function of Shuggie’s attraction to women, Agnes suspects otherwise and buys Shuggie a real doll, which he adores.
Despite how problematic Agnes’s drinking has become, her care for Shuggie is evident in this scene. She sees that her son is different, but instead of trying to change him or judging him, she accepts him. Though society deems it odd for boys to like dolls, she buys him one anyway. Shuggie’s unknowing tracing of his mother’s scars, which were inflicted by Shug, is also significant, serving as a symbol of the family trauma that has impacted his childhood. Though Shuggie is too young to be aware of the conflict in his parents’ relationship, he still feels the ramifications of their turmoil. 
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Agnes realizes that Shuggie is watching her, as all her children seem to watch her—carefully. He asks if she’d like to be entertained using a silly accent, but Agnes makes him repeat the words, pulling at his jaw, until he pronounces them properly. Shuggie puts a tape in the alarm-clock radio he bought for Agnes, and the two begin dancing. Then Agnes closes her eyes and dances on her own, trying to remember being young and desired. She grabs at her stomach where she has put on weight from carrying her children. Her mood rapidly shifts.
Like his siblings before him, Shuggie has learned to watch his mother, especially when she’s drinking, to anticipate her mood swings and her needs. He is very young, but he has already developed caretaking impulses, shouldering the responsibility of cheering Agnes up when she becomes morose. Dancing doesn’t break through her sadness for long; her fixation on beauty and dejection over her perceived flaws overwhelms her entirely.
Themes
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Upset, Agnes starts complaining about everything: the curtains, the décor, the constant noise coming in through the thin walls. She pushes Shuggie away when he tries to comfort her. Then, thinking of her older children who seem to avoid her lately, she asks him to start dancing for her. She changes the music to something happy, and Shuggie takes a sip of her beer before beginning. He dances wildly and off-rhythm, but he succeeds in making his mother laugh. He keeps going until she is squealing, and no trace of sorrow lingers in her face.
The only thing more powerful than Agnes’s spiral of dissatisfaction is her fear of abandonment, which is triggered when she remembers how she has slowly pushed away Leek and Catherine. She doesn’t want to drive her youngest child away too, so she tasks Shuggie with cheering her up with a dance. In trying to keep him close, Agnes puts considerable pressure on him to help her regulate her emotions, cementing an unhealthy, codependent bond between the two of them. Shuggie’s youth and impressionable nature are underscored when he sips at her beer as fuel for his merriment, thus following the behavior she has modeled for him.
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Quotes
Their fun stops when the door opens, and Shug’s heavy footsteps come down the hallway. Agnes hides her beer cans and listens to her husband move through the house on his first tea break of the night. Drunk and overwhelmed by his cool demeanor, she knocks the perfumes, lotions, and lamp off her dresser. Agnes leans her head into Shuggie while she cries, spilling her beer and smearing her makeup. She sings along to a sad song and lights a cigarette, which she holds to the curtains until they burst into flame. She tells Shuggie to be a good boy and stay still. The fire crawls up the drapery and the ceiling, filling the room with smoke and a golden glow Shuggie finds beautiful. He trusts his mother’s sudden calm and does not panic until the smoke begins to choke him. Agnes continues to sing with her eyes closed.
What faint comfort Agnes takes in Shuggie’s attempts to care for her is quickly forgotten when Shug comes home. Agnes centers her worth in her desirability, so she yearns for Shug’s affection as if her life depends on it. When he ignores her, he exacerbates her insecurities, and the alcohol and sad music she turns to fill that void only to aggravate her further. Again, Agnes asks impossibly too much from her young son, asking him to behave himself as she lights the curtains on fire. Shuggie’s trust in his mother is so deep that he sits there calmly while the fire spreads across the room.
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Quotes
Shug’s attention is finally called by the growing fire. When he opens the door, the air stokes the flames. He grabs the curtains with bare hands and tosses them out the window before running out to grab wet towels to dampen the fire. With them, he whips the lingering flames, then Agnes and Shuggie on the bed. He shakes with emotion once the fire is out. Lizzie and Wullie stand in the hallway. Shug grabs his son from his wife and puts him in Lizzie’s arms. He tries to wake Agnes, who is unresponsive. They all stand in silence. Unsettled by the quiet, Agnes relents and opens her eyes. She takes a drag on her cigarette, asking Shug where he has been accusingly.
Whether this is a true attempt to end her life or a cry for help, Agnes succeeds in catching Shug’s attention. While Shug arrives to put out the fire, this does not bring them closer together as Agnes may have hoped. Her drunken behavior usually angers Shug, but this incident scares him—which is far worse. Everyone present in the house is traumatized by the event, but Agnes doesn’t show any remorse. Instead, when she finally speaks, she just hurls more accusations at Shug. For all her anger at Shug’s neglect and infidelity, Agnes has no self-awareness about how her own actions hurt everyone around her.
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The narrative shifts to Catherine, who’s walking home on a cloudy July day. All day, she has listened to the Orangemen and their anti-Catholic songs. Meanwhile, she considers her love life, the various men who have crossed her path or been thrust into it. Chief among them is Donald Jnr., Shug’s Protestant nephew, whom Shug has encouraged her to date. Donald Jnr. made an impression when they met, with a self-assurance and neat appearance that Catherine associates with Protestants. He’s selfish, always taking more food than anyone in her Catholic family would dare and talking about himself, but this entitlement intrigues rather than repulses her. He has been attempting to sleep with her from their first introduction, but he was undeterred when she told him she wouldn’t before marriage. She was surprised when he proposed, though she did accept.
Catherine’s perceptions of Donald Jnr. are deeply colored by stereotypes against Protestants, which are reinforced by Catherine’s complicated relationship with her Protestant stepfather (and Donald’s uncle), Shug. Like her mother, these differences—which she interprets as entitlement, confidence, and self-worth—stoke her attraction rather than deter it. These traits are likely compelling because they are in direct contrast to Catherine’s upbringing. That he proposed instead of fleeing when she set boundaries only adds to her interest.
Themes
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Catherine’s nerves walking home alone are rooted not only in the volatility of the Orangemen’s parade, but in the spike of murdered young women in the city. When she sees a group of kids poking at something on the street in front of her building, she is scared it’s another victim, but instead she finds her mother’s burnt curtains. She knows this and from the exterior of their home she sees the lights on upstairs, which doesn’t bode well. She commits to finding her brother Leek, who has likely hidden from the conflict, so she doesn’t have to face their mother alone.
Sectarianism’s effect on the Bains’ community is most on display in this passage. The Orangemen’s parade is a public display of solidarity with English Protestantism, during which it is not uncommon for riots to break out between the opposing religious groups. This dynamic, paired with the violent crime spiking in the city, sets Catherine on edge as she walks home. On high alert, she is surprised to find the threat of danger not on the street, but in her own home. Catherine has developed the ability to discern the state of the household by its external appearance. The windows being wide open in the night and the crumpled pile of burned curtains on the sidewalk terrify her, and she turns away to search for Leek. Both she and Leek turn to avoidant behavior when it comes to the tension in their home and their mother’s drinking—a clear defense mechanism.
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The way to Leek’s hiding spot in a warehouse of empty pallets and shipping crates is treacherous and muddy. Catherine is intercepted by a group of men as she makes her way through the stacks, and they grab her violently, sticking a knife in her mouth. They ask if she’s Celtics or Rangers, but she knows neither answer is safe without knowing the boys’ affiliation—guessing wrong could end in mutilation and guessing right could end in rape. She guesses Celtics, correctly, and they let her go. There is blood in her mouth. They realize she is Leek’s sister, and she realizes they are only teenage boys. As she climbs the tower of crates to reach her brother, they grab at her. She kicks someone in the face. 
Catherine’s near-violent encounter in this passage throws the everyday dangers of sectarian division in Glasgow into harsh relief. She is forced to identify her political and religious affiliation, but there is truly no safe answer, and the stakes are high regardless; as a woman, harm may come from any direction. This encounter is another example of the pattern of abuse against women and children in the novel, leaving them to carry a disproportionate burden to maintain their own survival.
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She finds Leek in his hideaway of hollowed out pallets, where boys go to get into mischief and escape their fathers’ abuse. It smells of teenage boys and is filled with scraps of junk. Leek uses it to escape Agnes, hiding out all weekend while she drinks. He only comes home when he knows she is sober and apologetic. Usually, no one notices his absence, just as they don’t notice his presence. This is the way he likes it, being a solitary and sensitive person. Catherine thinks he takes after their real father. 
Leek’s escape to his secret cave speaks to two main dynamics. The first is the strikingly different societal expectations for men in their community. While women are burdened with family care and maintaining their own safety, men are able to run free with impunity from a young age. His usage of the hideout also illustrates Leek’s place within his own family. He chooses to separate himself from the drama of Agnes’s drinking, even if it means being alone.
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Leek and Catherine discuss Agnes’s state. Leek knew an alcohol bender was coming before he left in the morning. He fiddles with his dentures, which Agnes convinced him to get when he turned 15. They cause him pain. Catherine apologizes for leaving him and kisses his cheek, but her affection is rebuffed. She studies Leek’s sketchbook when he steps away. He grabs it back from her, annoyed, and Catherine tells him she thinks he’s talented. She tells him they’re going to make it out of this world, but Leek reminds her she’s planning to marry a Protestant, leaving him to handle Agnes on his own. Eventually, Catherine convinces Leek to come home with her after mentioning the boys’ assault, which makes him angry. As she leaves, she points to a dark spot on the horizon. There, she explains, is where Shug plans to take them.
Leek’s dentures are also significant, symbolizing a transfer of generational trauma. Agnes decided as a teenager to prioritize beauty over comfort, and her deeply held belief that appearance determines success and happiness leads her to pressure her son to make the same permanent sacrifice. This conversation with Catherine also suggests that Leek shares Agnes’s fear of abandonment. Agnes copes with it by drinking, while Leek preempts his sister’s departure from the home by pulling away first. His anger illustrates just how much he cares for her. His sketch book further reveals the depths of his feelings. Though he is often absent, it’s not because he is oblivious or uncaring. In contrast, he is a sensitive, keen observer.
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The next morning, Agnes wakes to find the sooty evidence from the night before and the bed empty beside her. The memories flood back; she reaches for a cigarette to tamp them down, but her lighter and pack have been confiscated. In the bathroom, she finds the blackened towels. She lingers in the hallway, trying to decide what expression would play best. She finds her parents and sons in the kitchen, and Wullie and Leek treat her indifferently. Shug isn’t there, which disappoints her. Only Shuggie is excited to see her.
When Agnes is faced with the fallout from her suicide attempt, she tries her best to appear penitent. She does not reckon with her behavior. She is still consumed by her own experience and unwilling to consider the way her actions impact the people who love her. The only person who hasn’t grown tired of that dynamic is Shuggie, who loves his mother deeply and is too young to understand.
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While feeding Shuggie, Wullie tells Agnes he knows her drinking problem is his fault because he spoiled her as a girl. While he talks, all she can think about is her cigarettes. He tells her that he only wanted her to be cared for, that she was something for him to take pride in. She tells him he did a good job and that she was happy. He cannot understand why, if that is the case, she is so unhappy now. He decides the only way to get through to her is to belt her. Agnes tries to evade him, hiding behind Shuggie. Wullie moves Shuggie aside. Wullie prays for strength as he brings his belt down on Agnes backside. Lizzie kneels and prays too, holding her daughter’s hand.
Again, Agnes can hardly pay attention to her father’s heartfelt admission because she is preoccupied with her own needs. She tells him he did a great job raising her, but she is motivated less by earnest sentiment and more by her desire to end the conversation so she can find cigarettes. Her parents are not fooled—it is clear that they are familiar with Agnes’s pattern. Though the Campbells are not devoutly religious or traditional, they are desperate. Wullie’s use of Catholic prayer and corporal punishment are last-ditch efforts to get through to their daughter.
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Later, Shug has still not come home. Agnes decides to sun herself in the courtyard in front of the apartment to save face. Downstairs, she finds Lizzie and other women from the complex. Agnes tries to make amends with her mother, but Lizzie tells her that she should have stayed married to her first husband, who would have treated her as well as Wullie treats Lizzie. After bringing her mother a cigarette and taking out her curlers, Agnes asks her to tell Wullie about her impending move with Shug. Lizzie responds that it will kill Wullie, but Agnes insists it’s the only way to save her marriage. Soon, Wullie and Shuggie, who has his doll in tow, come home from the store. Lizzie tells Agnes that whatever happens between her and Shug, Shug needs to address Shuggie’s femininity, which she finds troubling.
Agnes’s decision to join the other women on the sidewalk is an attempt to save her pride. When it comes to her and her family’s appearance, Agnes’s obsession with beauty is driven by her belief that appearances shape identity and convey a sense of worth. Interestingly, with Lizzie, appearance seems instead to be a way to build relationships and communicate. Agnes’s attendance to her mother’s hair is both an act of loving care and an authentic apology.  Lizzie’s comments about Agnes staying with her first husband have nothing to do with the man; instead, Lizzie’s true complaint is against Agnes’s insatiable need for a bigger, better life. If Agnes had learned to accept what she had, the fuel feeding her drinking and her conflict with Shug would evaporate. By bringing up Shuggie’s doll, Lizzie is also asking her daughter to maintain the status quo when it comes to gender expression. 
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As they prepare for their move, Shug places all his things in new red suitcases. Though they are half full, he does not add her or the children’s things. Instead, Agnes packs them along with her belongings in her brocade suitcases—the same ones she once packed with expensive new clothes to run away from her first husband. Agnes and Shug agreed to start fresh without their kids. When Shug arrived to take her away, he told Agnes that his wife had threatened to kill their children if he didn’t stay. He left anyway and was livid that Agnes didn’t follow through, too. That day, they moved in with her parents. Still, her ex-husband paid child support and spent time with Leek and Catherine until the day he heard his daughter introduce herself as Catherine Bain. They haven’t seen him since.
The separate sets of suitcases symbolize the division that exists between Shug and Agnes and the children as they transition to a new space. Agnes carries the full contents of her and the kids’ things, while Shug only exerts effort packing his own things. Agnes’s suitcases contain even more metaphorical weight because she used them when leaving her first marriage for Shug. Both this and that move were made in pursuance of a better future. Despite that conviction, Agnes’s decision to pack her brocade bags and leave her Catholic husband ended in disappointment, hinting that this ordeal may end similarly.
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Now, with the same suitcases packed, they prepare to leave. Because Shug is the only one who has seen the new house, everyone is anxious about where they are going. As before, Agnes sits in the backseat of the cab with her children, all dressed in their finest clothes. Shug says they are getting close as they drive past large houses with green yards and gardens. He raves about the great community they will have, but as they turn on their street, the green fades and gives way to dead grass, coal hills of abandoned mines, and broken fences.
Agnes’s insistence on dressing herself and her kids in their finest clothing to face their new lives once again underlines her obsession with appearances. Agnes dresses for the life she thinks she deserves, ultimately making an effort to show her new neighbors that she and her children are worthy of respect. 
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Their house sits in a block of four, all the homes identical to each other. Even in the height of summer, coal fires are burning to keep the homes warm because they are so poorly made and hold no heat. The yards are brown and small, and in front of them, women in shabby housecoats stand staring. Shug is dejected but silent. Agnes tips her bag to her face, drinking from a can of beer she stashed there. She declares that she can’t believe she got dressed up for a place like this.
The exterior of the home again communicates vital information to the Bain clan. The uniform, impoverished, grey neighborhood and the dim people wandering the streets speak volumes; the lush garden, cozy home, and respectable community Shug promised was another lie. Interestingly, the presence of the beer in Agnes’s handbag suggests some amount of preparation for such an event—Agnes may have been hopeful about their future, but she is not as naïve as the excessively nice clothing suggests. Again, she will drown her dissatisfaction in beer, and the beer will only make her more dissatisfied and vocal about that dissatisfaction.
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