Discuss Beth’s journey of coming to terms with her son’s death. How does the arrival of Leo and Gabriel affect her ability to cope with that loss?
I don’t know that Beth has ever really come to terms with her son’s death, but the arrival of Leo and Gabriel deeply affect her. Gabriel, of course, reminds her of own son and what she has lost. While she enjoys spending time with him and getting to know him, she knows he can’t replace Bobby. And then the return of Gabriel also brings back her youth and the excitement of those times and her love affair with Gabriel.
She knows Leo is Bobby’s half brother. Leo reminds her of Bobby. He looks like her son and she wants to make him into a boy who acted like her son. She enjoys spending time with him.
Leo and Bobby share Gabriel’s characteristics. This truth seems to bring Beth closer to wanting Gabriel in her life again as well as Leo. While Leo isn’t a replacement child, he does evoke memories and closeness that Beth and Bobby shared.
- Beth never totally came to grips with the death of Bobby and Leo and Gabriel gave her a way to relive his memory.
Beth is stuck when it comes to healing until Leo comes into her life. She is able to talk about Bobby with him and psychologically “relive” so many of her memories. She has not talked about their times together with Frank, and I think that through this process with Leo, she becomes able to cope with her loss. Loved ones want to talk about the person they have lost and most people avoid asking them to do so.
I don’t think that Beth ever got over the death of Bobby, however when Leo returned with Gabriel, he was an emotional support to her for someone that meant way more than meets the eye. That was a horrible sentence…lol…but you probably get my drift!
Beth needed the freedom to talk about Bobby. She wanted to share her memories of his life, the tragedy of his death, her dashed plans for his future. If Frank had been able to give that to her, it is possible that spending time with Leo and Gabriel, where she could talk so much about Bobby, might not have been so valuable.She knew it was not pleasing Frank, yet she couldn’t resist. And knowing the real family connection…amazing it didn’t come to light sooner.
I think no mother who loses her son the way Beth lost Bobby will ever come to terms. You learn to live with this grief; it always has an impact on your marriage and other people who surround you and while reading the novel you can see this throughout the marriage of Beth and Frank. She is constantly being reminded of her son.
The presence of Leo and Gabriel force Beth to finally confront her grief rather than avoiding it.
Leo, son of Gabriel, strongly resembles Beth’s deceased son, Bobby. It brings memories about her son, she wants to “relive” her son through Leo and this hurting her more than helping her.
The returning of Gabriel brings out emotions Beth had buried, inclusively past secrets. Her encounters with Gabriel forces Beth to confront her past and re-evaluate the choices she made during her relationship with Gabriel.
I believe that Beth buries her grief until Gabriel’s return with Leo and the reestablishment of trust with her “borrowed family.” She is then able to begin acknowledging Bobby’s loss through sharing her memories. It is when she reveals her deepest secret to Gabriel that I feel the healing process truly begins.