Sullivan Doyle

[IBIS]

It interested me to think about Sullivan, and his relationship with his two adopted younger brothers. He was about 10 when Bernadette and Doyle adopted Tip and Teddy. Old enough to understand the repercussions of no longer being the only child.

Did he resent the adoptions of not one, but two, boys? And what did he make of the complications of them being biological brothers? Did he feel outnumbered? Threatened by them? Inadequate because he wasn't enough to satisfy his parents need for family?

What do you think?

IBIS

[Stephanie]

IBIS,

Great questions - I think Sullivan must have felt all those things. I'm sure he felt usurped, to say the least.

I wonder, however, what he felt every time his mother's pregnancies failed. Surely he must have known how much she loved children, and a boy would understand and want his mother to be happy, just as Doyle had. My son would, certainly.

[IBIS]

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Stephanie wrote:
IBIS,

Great questions - I think Sullivan must have felt all those things. I'm sure he felt usurped, to say the least.

I wonder, however, what he felt every time his mother's pregnancies failed. Surely he must have known how much she loved children, and a boy would understand and want his mother to be happy, just as Doyle had. My son would, certainly.

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As I learned more about Sullivan, I was very much drawn to him as a character. I could see the little boy that he was, suffering quietly in the shadows, empathizing with Bernadette's miscarriages.

He was the closest to a mysterious shadowy figure... what was the scandal that drove him and Doyle apart, and that sank Doyle's promising political career? What unsavory activities in Africa caused him to run away, and return to Boston unexpectedly?

But overall, Sullivan is emotionally comfortable with himself, and with others. He was emotionally accessible with Kenya; and his bedside manner with Tennessee was gentle and moving.

He was the only one who vaguely recognized Kenya; this is interesting since he wasn't in Boston for years. While his brothers and Doyle were the targets of Kenya and Tennessee's stalking, yet they never noticed them.

It tells you a lot of Sullivan's sharp awareness of his surroundings.

Message Edited by IBIS on 01-17-2008 10:19 AM

[Stephanie]

IBIS,

Excellent point about Sullivan vaguely recognizing Kenya - I've always wished I were more the "observer" type- less apt to jump in and be the one being observed, but rather watching and learning. Ah well, we are who we are. Perhaps that's why I am an obsessive reader- in books, I have to observe, there is no jumping in. However much I want to tell the characters what to do!