37 pages • 1 hour read
Donal RyanThe Spinning Heart
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaCharacter Analysis
Bobby Mahon
Bobby is the central character, and many other characters view themselves in relation to him. Bobby used to be Pokey Burke’s foreman. When Pokey leaves town and the company falls apart, Bobby tries to fix some of the projects that Pokey left unfinished. Many people view Bobby as a moral, decent man who leads other men with honesty and integrity. The townspeople who think otherwise of Bobby are jealous of him. Some people believe the rumors that Bobby cheated on his wife with Réaltín and killed Frank, while others could never fathom such a good man doing such bad things. Everyone in town judges Bobby, and almost everyone considers him to be attractive.
Bobby considers himself a trusting man in love with his wife, Triona. He claims to love being married because it gives him an excuse to enjoy more feminine activities, like plays. He is also smart but, because he hung out with a rough crowd growing up, he didn’t want to show off academically for fear of being beat up. Bobby hates Frank because Frank was cold and harsh to Bobby and Bobby’s mother. Bobby was always jealous of his childhood friend, Seanie, who had a loving father.
Triona
Triona is Bobby’s loyal wife, and like Bobby, many people in town judge her. Most agree that she is exceptionally beautiful. Unlike others in town, Triona sees beneath Bobby’s cool exterior to a vulnerable, wounded man. Many people in town believe that Bobby is cheating on her, but she knows that Bobby would never betray her in that way; she has an unshakable faith in Bobby’s goodness. She believes it doesn’t matter whether Bobby killed Frank; she would stand by Bobby’s side and lie for him until the end.
Réaltín
Much of the novel revolves around Réaltín’s alleged affair with Bobby and Dylan’s kidnapping. Réaltín wants Bobby to like her romantically, but he stays true to Triona. Réaltín admits that her lust for Bobby is pathetic, but her attraction to him controls her. The townspeople perceive Réaltín as a self-absorbed flirt, but she is more complex than that: She loves her father and young son, but she acts spontaneously, perhaps from an unresolved sense of grief for her deceased mother and a jealously over her father’s new girlfriend.
Seanie Shaper
Seanie is Bobby’s childhood friend, Réaltín’s former lover, and Dylan’s father. While everyone in the village views Seanie as an always-joking lady’s man, he struggles with suicidal depression. He can’t resist beautiful women and has been sexually active since adolescence, but he longs for a sense of meaning in life. He wants to be a real father to Dylan, but his sense of worthlessness paralyzes him—he does not see himself as a good role model for Dylan. Seanie loves Réaltín, but she wants nothing to do with him because she views him as nothing more than a playboy. He wishes he could be who others think he is.
Frank Mahon
Frank is Bobby’s father. While everyone in town agrees that he is a hateful curmudgeon, Bobby hates him most of all. Frank never hit Bobby or Bobby’s mother, but he was critical and verbally harsh. Bobby grew up without joy in the home because of Frank. However, Frank reveals that his own father was oppressive, violent, and never encouraged him. At one point, Frank was gifted at school and wanted to make his father proud, but his father physically beat him.
Frank never encouraged Bobby, but in death he tells Bobby that Bobby’s a good man. Underneath his harsh exterior, Frank loved his son, but he never learned how to express love. Frank’s character shows the cyclic nature of abuse.
