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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Parent and Child Disconnect and Abuse
In the novel, the disconnect and abuse between many of the parents and their grown children is cyclic and passed down throughout the generations. Although Frank loved Bobby, he was cold and harsh throughout Bobby’s childhood; Frank was not kind and did not encourage Bobby. Frank’s father treated Frank the same way, and was also physically abusive. The stereotype that men should be unfeeling and firm-handed is the root of the disconnect in Bobby’s family between the men and their sons, resulting in an inability to show true feelings.
Josie admits that he didn’t love Pokey as much as his other son Eamonn. Josie spoiled Pokey with money and material possessions to make up for this deficit, but Josie and Pokey were never close; while Josie isn’t certain, he believes this led Pokey to become a dishonest man. Josie is ashamed of both Pokey and Mags. While Josie and Mags used to be close, he can’t accept that she is a lesbian. Mags is heartbroken because she wants her father to remember how much he used to love her. Josie’s prejudice causes the problems between Josie and Mags: He thinks homosexuality is wrong, and it’s hard for him to see that it’s his daughter underneath the label.
Inner Self Versus Outer Self and Masculinity
In this small rural village, masculinity means hiding one’s feelings and working with one’s hands to earn a living. Many of the men in the village are gifted academically, but instead of pursuing school, they go into construction work for fear of being ostracized by the other men in the community. Physical work earns respect, while men who pursue school or show off their intelligence are beat up. The men in the community believe that physical strength is superior to mental or emotional strength.
Bobby admits that he was gifted in school and could have taken honors math, but “I couldn’t ever let on I knew anything, though, that would have been suicide in my gang” (14). He recalls a boy who wrote an amazing essay but was beat up by the other boys. Instead of school, Bobby pursues carpentry work and earns the widespread respect of his coworkers and the other men in the village. Frank was also gifted in school. Frank was proud to tell his father about his perfect test score, but his father physically abused him for doing well in school. The act of discouraging boys from pursuing academics is a cyclic event through the generations.
The idea that physical strength and virility is superior to mental or emotional strength influences the townspeople. On the outside, Seanie is widely adored as a goofy playboy. However, he’s crippled by suicidal depression that he hides due to his family’s tendency towards secrecy: “My family was always into the whole mad Irish country thing of keeping secrets anyway. It’s nearly like a kind of embarrassment, not wanting to say anything about yourself for fear you’ll be judged or looked on as foolish” (94). Seanie hides his true feelings just as Bobby buries his childhood sadness and despair.
Many of the men in the village define themselves by their jobs. When these men lose their jobs, they also lose their identity and feel emasculated. Denis and Hughie both lost their jobs and can’t find more work; meanwhile, their wives are working full time and paying all the bills. Denis’ wife, Kate, tries to make him feel small for not working while boasting about the success of her daycare business. Hughie’s wife insults him for being a horrible babysitter for their daughter and complains that she’s gone all day earning money for them. Because work defines the men in the village, , being out of work and then insulted by their wives makes Denis and Hughie, among others, feel like they’ve lost themselves; but worse yet, they don’t have support to deal with the anger that accompanies that loss.
Isolation
Some of the characters feel isolated because of mental illness and an inability to connect with the people around them; other characters feel lonely because they’re not from the village and are perpetually treated like outsiders. A stronger sense of community prevailed during the village’s economic success. Along with the economic collapse came a societal collapse, with people retreating into themselves. No matter the individual circumstances that contribute to each character’s isolation, feelings of depression or purposelessness are the common result.
Vasya emigrated from Siberia to Ireland in search of work:
I’m called the Russian here, as almost everyone is from other countries. I don’t mind. On the plain where I was born all of our faces looked the same to foreigners. The Latvians take offence and complain bitterly among themselves about slights best forgotten. The Russian and Polish men speak good English and try to explain the differences. No one here has heard of Khakassia (36).
None of the people that Vasya has encountered in Ireland have cared to learn about where he’s from. Instead, they often make fun of him, and he has no friends. Because he feels like he can never go back to his home without his brother, who was murdered, he lives in a perpetual state of loneliness in Ireland.
Although Réaltín is from Ireland, she’s considered a foreigner because she’s from the city, not from the small village. Many people call her a “blow-in” from town, a negative term used “derisively. As if to say it’s a failing to not have been born and bred here, to have settled in a place outside of the place of your birth” (127). Many people feel unsure about Réaltín. In such a small village, everyone who was born there knows everyone else, and they all know each other’s history. Because Réaltín isn’t from the village, people don’t know what to think about her because they don’t know her family or history. The community regards her as an outsider, despite her Irish heritage.
Trevor, Lloyd, and Jason cannot connect with others because of mental illness or mental isolation. Trevor most likely has schizophrenia, like his father did, and he daydreams about connecting with women, like Réaltín, but he never actually talks to women. Similarly, Lloyd identifies as a solipsist—he believes he is the center of existence and that everyone else is a figment of his imagination. As a result, he can never connect with anyone else because he doesn’t believe they’re real. Unlike Trevor and Lloyd, Jason is willing but unable to connect with people due to personal, past traumas. He attributes his isolation to his mental state—he is diagnosed with PTSD, ADHD, among others—and to the negative way people treat him because tattoos cover his face.
