Shuggie Bain

by

Douglas Stuart

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Colleen McAvennie Character Analysis

Colleen is a neighbor who lives directly across the street from the Bains. Colleen has many children who run around unkempt, stirring up judgement from appearance-obsessed Agnes. The two women have cheating husbands and difficult lives in common, and Agnes takes pity on Colleen when the younger woman discovers her husband’s affairs and has a public meltdown in the street. Still, Colleen judges Agnes’s drinking and haughty demeanor, and she believes Agnes is promiscuous—all of which she tells her brother, Eugene, when he begins dating Agnes. When Agnes and Shuggie move from Pithead, Agnes takes revenge on Colleen by telling her that Agnes once slept with Jamesy. Colleen’s children are also Shuggie’s biggest bullies, which is behavior that Colleen often encourages.

Colleen McAvennie Quotes in Shuggie Bain

The Shuggie Bain quotes below are all either spoken by Colleen McAvennie or refer to Colleen McAvennie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity and Societal Expectations Theme Icon
).
Chapter Three: 1982, Pithead Quotes

He was enjoying her attention. Something inside him flowered, and he started popping his body like he’d seen the black boys on telly do. They self-consciousness left him, and he spun and shimmied and shook in all the telly ways. He was mid Cats leap when he let out a sharp scream. It was high-pitched and womanly…Across the street, in the window of their front room, stood the McAvennies. They pressed again the large glass window, and they were gutting themselves with laughter.

…“If I were you, I would keep dancing.”

“I can’t.” The tears were coming.

“You know they only win if you let them…Just hold you head high and Gie. It. Laldy.”

Shuggie looked at her now and understood this was where she excelled. Everyday with the make-up on and her hair done, she climbed out of her grave and held her head high.

…It was hard to keep moving again, to feel the music, to go to that other place in your head where you keep your confidence…But it was in him, and as it poured out, he found he was helpless to stop it.

Related Characters: Shuggie Bain (speaker), Agnes Bain (speaker), Colleen McAvennie
Related Symbols: Dancing
Page Number: 267
Explanation and Analysis:

She strutted out a confident rhythmic clip and turned her head and said to the boy, “What would you like for dinner tonight?”

Shuggie looked up at his mother and did as he had been taught. “Roast chicken, please. I’m a bit tired of sirloin every other night.”

…The women said nothing as she passed, but she felt them draw their eyes over the coat, over the shoes and hair.

Related Characters: Shuggie Bain (speaker), Agnes Bain (speaker), Colleen McAvennie
Page Number: 327
Explanation and Analysis:
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Shuggie Bain PDF

Colleen McAvennie Quotes in Shuggie Bain

The Shuggie Bain quotes below are all either spoken by Colleen McAvennie or refer to Colleen McAvennie. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity and Societal Expectations Theme Icon
).
Chapter Three: 1982, Pithead Quotes

He was enjoying her attention. Something inside him flowered, and he started popping his body like he’d seen the black boys on telly do. They self-consciousness left him, and he spun and shimmied and shook in all the telly ways. He was mid Cats leap when he let out a sharp scream. It was high-pitched and womanly…Across the street, in the window of their front room, stood the McAvennies. They pressed again the large glass window, and they were gutting themselves with laughter.

…“If I were you, I would keep dancing.”

“I can’t.” The tears were coming.

“You know they only win if you let them…Just hold you head high and Gie. It. Laldy.”

Shuggie looked at her now and understood this was where she excelled. Everyday with the make-up on and her hair done, she climbed out of her grave and held her head high.

…It was hard to keep moving again, to feel the music, to go to that other place in your head where you keep your confidence…But it was in him, and as it poured out, he found he was helpless to stop it.

Related Characters: Shuggie Bain (speaker), Agnes Bain (speaker), Colleen McAvennie
Related Symbols: Dancing
Page Number: 267
Explanation and Analysis:

She strutted out a confident rhythmic clip and turned her head and said to the boy, “What would you like for dinner tonight?”

Shuggie looked up at his mother and did as he had been taught. “Roast chicken, please. I’m a bit tired of sirloin every other night.”

…The women said nothing as she passed, but she felt them draw their eyes over the coat, over the shoes and hair.

Related Characters: Shuggie Bain (speaker), Agnes Bain (speaker), Colleen McAvennie
Page Number: 327
Explanation and Analysis: