Shuggie Bain

by

Douglas Stuart

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Wullie Campbell Character Analysis

Wullie is Agnes’s father and Lizzie’s husband. Wullie has a particular soft spot for his grandson, Shuggie, who he takes special care of when Agnes is incapacitated by alcohol. He is easier on Agnes than Lizzie, whom he convinced to accept Shug when Agnes married him, despite Lizzie’s misgivings. Throughout the novel, Wullie feels guilty for spoiling Agnes, his only child, throughout her youth. He often wonders if his doting led to her alcoholism, so he tries to encourage her to quit drinking. He decides to take a firmer approach by spanking her as an adult after she lights the curtains on fire and almost kills Shuggie. When Agnes agrees to move away to Pithead with Shug and the children, Wullie is heartbroken. Later in the novel, when Wullie is dying, Lizzie tells Agnes about the affair she had with the grocer when Wullie was away at war. When he came home to find a new child in the house, he took the boy away and pretended he never existed.

Wullie Campbell Quotes in Shuggie Bain

The Shuggie Bain quotes below are all either spoken by Wullie Campbell or refer to Wullie Campbell. 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 Two: 1981, Sighthill Quotes

He was a selfish animal, she knew that now in a dirty, sexual way that aroused her against her better nature…Big Shug Bain had seemed so shiny in comparison to the Catholic. He had been vain in the way only Protestants were allowed to be, conspicuous with his shallow wealth, flushed pink with gluttony and waste.

Lizzie had always known. When Agnes had shown up on the doorstep with her two eldest and the Protestant Taxi driver, she had had the instant compulsion to shut the door, but Wullie would not let her…They said it was wrong, to marry between the faiths, to marry outside the Chapel.

Related Characters: Agnes Bain, Shug Bain, Lizzie Campbell, Wullie Campbell
Page Number: 28
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Three: 1982, Pithead Quotes

“I can manage. I can fetch messages and make sure she goes to bed on time. Besides, Sister Nurse. You never answered my question. My mother told me that my grandaddy would be going to heaven soon, and I wanted to know if he had to get a bus or if we could take him in a black hackney?”

…“Och, son. It disnae really work like that. They don’t leave on a bus…when a person goes to heaven they don’t take their bodies wi’ them.”

…“So if your body doesn’t go to heaven, it doesn’t matter if another boy did something bad to it in a bin shed, right?”

Related Characters: Shuggie Bain (speaker), Wullie Campbell
Related Symbols: Black Cabs
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis:
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Shuggie Bain PDF

Wullie Campbell Quotes in Shuggie Bain

The Shuggie Bain quotes below are all either spoken by Wullie Campbell or refer to Wullie Campbell. 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 Two: 1981, Sighthill Quotes

He was a selfish animal, she knew that now in a dirty, sexual way that aroused her against her better nature…Big Shug Bain had seemed so shiny in comparison to the Catholic. He had been vain in the way only Protestants were allowed to be, conspicuous with his shallow wealth, flushed pink with gluttony and waste.

Lizzie had always known. When Agnes had shown up on the doorstep with her two eldest and the Protestant Taxi driver, she had had the instant compulsion to shut the door, but Wullie would not let her…They said it was wrong, to marry between the faiths, to marry outside the Chapel.

Related Characters: Agnes Bain, Shug Bain, Lizzie Campbell, Wullie Campbell
Page Number: 28
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Three: 1982, Pithead Quotes

“I can manage. I can fetch messages and make sure she goes to bed on time. Besides, Sister Nurse. You never answered my question. My mother told me that my grandaddy would be going to heaven soon, and I wanted to know if he had to get a bus or if we could take him in a black hackney?”

…“Och, son. It disnae really work like that. They don’t leave on a bus…when a person goes to heaven they don’t take their bodies wi’ them.”

…“So if your body doesn’t go to heaven, it doesn’t matter if another boy did something bad to it in a bin shed, right?”

Related Characters: Shuggie Bain (speaker), Wullie Campbell
Related Symbols: Black Cabs
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis: