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!