O'Connor, A Stroke of Good Fortune: Whodunit? Bill Hill
While reading classmate Brenda's blog entry, which highlighted the fact that the reader never actually gets to meet Bill Hill, I took a new interest in his role in the story and glanced through it again to read the sections where he's mentioned.
It seems to me that perhaps Bill Hill got Ruby pregnant on purpose, considering how she mentions his hint of a smile at two different places in the story, once near the beginning and again near the end. Ruby seems convinced that he could not have made a mistake and failed to use birth control, but I think that's just more denial; Ruby should definitely know herself whether or not he ever did so while with her.
Perhaps what was most interesting was the way that Laverne seemed to know about Bill Hill's mistake, and while I may be looking into it a bit too much, I can't help but wonder if perhaps he told her about his plot to get Ruby pregnant. Of course, maybe she just figured it out on her own.
Comments
Ah, cool. I did not know that.
Good point about the pure ignorance that Ruby sees in her mother. I agree that Ruby is rather ignorant throughout most of the story, but near the end, she seems to have a revelation and perhaps even realizes why her mother had so many children: because they're actually a good fortune.
Posted by: ChrisU | March 23, 2006 7:00 PM
I think that Mama Ruby's denial her is two-fold:
1)her utter dismay by how, at 34 years old, her own mother was sour, gray and unsatisfied, and 2)her complete worship of Bill B. Hill. There is no way that Ruby can fathom that Bill, who she thinks the world of, could ever make a mistake, let alone one that would cause Ruby to start looking and feeling old like her mother. There's a great quote on page 72: "Her mother had got deader with every one of them. And all of it for what? Because she hadn't known any better. Pure ignorance. The purest of downright ignorance!"
Although Ruby may not be "purely" ignorant in that she's not an untainted character, she is certainly ignorant.
By the way, Chris, I looked at your webpage and discovered that we share July 9 as our birthday. You, me & O.J. Simpson!
Posted by: Brenda Christeleit | March 23, 2006 6:40 PM