The Gathering

Liam is Veronica’s brother. He dies by suicide after years of self-destructive behavior. Even with the emotional and physical distance between them (Liam moved to England years before his death), Liam and Veronica have always had a special connection. They were close in age and both felt abandoned by their overworked mother.

Liam is characterized as a man at odds with society. Veronica reflects,

For someone who was blunderingly stupid most all of the time, my brother was very astute. And what he was astute about were other people’s lives, their weaknesses and hopes, the little lies they like to tell themselves about why and whether they should ever get out of bed. This was Liam’s great talent—exposing the lie (125).

Liam is alienated not only from his family but from society in general. Veronica compares Liam to their uncle, who had been placed in a psychiatric hospital. In her uncle’s day, disappearing people with mental health conditions was the norm. Though Liam was spared hospitalization, he faced a different form of social ostracization. Enright uses Liam’s character to criticize the ways in which society refuses to accept, understand, and nurture those with mental health conditions.

Liam is crucial to Veronica’s character development because his death forces her to face the dark truths about their past and ultimately find a way to celebrate her present. A family friend sexually abused Liam when he was a child. This abuse, coupled with the lack of support he received from his family, launched Liam on a path of self-destruction. He therefore symbolizes the long-term effects of family obliviousness, trauma, and fear.

Liam lives on in his son, Rowan. In this novel, children are symbols of a better future—Veronica is inspired to find beauty in living because of her children. Therefore, Rowan also represents Liam’s unfulfilled potential and symbolizes hope.

Ada is Veronica’s grandmother. Veronica spends a lot of time narrating Ada’s past in an effort to understand the present. Veronica traces the Hegarty family problems back to Ada. Ada married Charlie, not her true love, Nugent. Veronica realizes that because Ada didn’t marry Nugent, Nugent sought out other ways to manage his resentment and assert control over Ada. Although Veronica can’t be certain, she suspects that Liam is not the only child that Nugent abused. Veronica wonders if, for example, her mother became a shell of a woman, reproducing child after child, because of her own abuse at the hands of Nugent. Ada is a central figure in the Hegarty family, but because Ada is dead, Veronica can only try to imagine and piece together Ada’s version of the story. Ada is also a sort of mother figure to Veronica because Veronica is sent to live with her as a child. Ada ultimately disappoints Veronica because she allows Nugent into their lives. In this way Ada represents yet another family betrayal.

Nugent is the primary antagonist of the novel. His sexual abuse of Liam (and potentially Veronica and other members of Ada’s family), his financial control over Ada’s house, and his lack of empathy for other people makes him a monstrous family secret. Though long dead by the time Liam dies by suicide, Nugent’s ghostly presence looms over the novel. He poses the central conflict in Veronica’s quest to access the past to make sense of the present. When Veronica catches Nugent molesting Liam, Nugent doesn’t even seem to care. Veronica remembers: “I have seen great bleakness in Liam’s eyes, on that day and on many days since—but when Nugent saw me, a small girl in a school uniform holding the knob of the door, the look in his eye was one of very ordinary irritation” (146). This passage suggests that he is comfortable abusing children in Ada’s home, and that he knows he won’t get in trouble for it. It also reveals the ways in which society has long ignored the well-being of children. Nugent therefore represents the larger, sinister power dynamics at play in society. The way he preys on Ada, her children, and her grandchildren makes Nugent a symbol of unmitigated evil and power.