Character Analysis
Hide Your Dishes
When we first meet David's mom, she's hunched over the kitchen sink washing dishes. She's wearing an apron and cleaning up after a home-cooked meal, but she's not some sitcom dream mom. She's scowling and coughing her passive-aggressive cough, and when she puts the dishes away, she slams the cabinet doors. The first thing we learn about her is that she's unhappy in her home life—which is to say, unhappy being a mother.
How About a Little Nurturing Over Here
The first glimpse we see of David's relationship with Betty is when he gets sick. She comes into his room, scowling, bearing medicine and a glass of water on a tray. She gives him a spoonful of medicine and hands him his teddy bear, but she doesn't talk, smile, or even put her hand on his forehead. She does what she has to do and gets out of there.
Bare minimum would be a good way of describing Betty's parenting style. Sure, she'll feed her kids dinner, but she's not whipping out any Baby Einstein cards. You want a bedtime story, you're on your own—but only if you read a book she doesn't consider "smut," because if she doesn't like your reading material, she'll totally burn it.
Doctor, Shmoctor
For someone whose husband is a physician, Betty has very little use for doctors, especially psychiatrists. When Mrs. Dillon suggests in alarm that Betty take David to the doctor for the lump on his neck, Betty gets mad at David for ruining her party. After Mrs. Dillon leaves, David asks his mom if she is, in fact, going to take him to the doctor, and she says:
"DOCTORS COST MONEY and MONEY is something that is in SHORT SUPPLY in THIS HOUSE." (2.52)
Guess we can tell where David falls on the priority list for her… She does finally take him in for an initial exam, but she waits three years to schedule his surgery. When David needs therapy (obviously), she takes him, but as she drops him off, she says:
"It's like throwing money down a hole, if you ask me!" (4.6)
Again we see that David isn't exactly a main concern for Betty. David never tells us why, as a physician's wife, she's so mistrustful of other doctors, but money stress is certainly a large part of her refusal to seek proper medical treatment for her child.
Closing the Circle
Betty dies at the end of the book, and David goes to say goodbye to her. The first thing the nurse says to him when he arrives at the hospital is, "Your mom has a tube down her throat. She can't talk" (5.165). Welcome to David's world, yo.
The tables are turned. Betty stood over David when he was in the hospital unable to talk; now he stands over her. She looks at him with a tear in her eye, but he says nothing to her. He just takes her hand in a final, wordless gesture of mercy toward the woman who showed no mercy when she took away his words.
Does she feel regret? Probably. But we'll never know, because per usual, nobody speaks a word.