NORMAL PEOPLE’S CHAPTER 2

At the beginning of the second chapter of Normal People, Marianne’s brother Alan appears for the first time. He behaves aggressively towards her both for what he says and for the actions. Indeed, Marianne is going out, but Alan stops her and asks her where she is going. So, at first sight, it seems he is caring of her, but immediately after he points out her solitude because he says she has not any friend and therefore she is not going out to see somebody. But Marianne manages to go out from the garden’s door. It shows one of Marianne’s problems she has to face and one of the aspects of her life she does not want to show: domestic violence. Indeed, she is raped by her father and brother, who makes her feel subdued. It undoubtedly affects also her life because during the novel, she goes in search for somebody to submit to. 

After that, there is a flashback of the final Connell’s football match, at which Marianne went to see him. Here, Sally Rooney adopts Marianne’s point of view, making a detailed description of Connell’s body so that, at a certain point, she imagines him having sex. It underlines her twisted mind and her vulgar thoughts. 

In the chapter, there are also reference to some books, such as “The Communist Manifesto” and “The Fire Next Time”. Indeed, both Connell and Marianne are smart and clever and they like reading books. But while Marianne reads in public (she always reads during lunch at school), Connell does not show he likes reading. Books are one of their topics of discussion when he goes to her house to pick his mother up. Indeed, one day, exactly while they were speaking about “The Fire Next Time”, he kissed her for the first time, since he knows she likes him. But the day after at school, he behaved at the same time, pretending not to know her, because he cares a lot about his reputation and therefore, he does not want other people to see him with Marianne. On the other side, since she likes him, she did not react and accepts Connell’s behavior.

However, out of school, he goes on visiting Marianne’s house and they become closer and closer. Indeed, when he returns at hers, after the time they kissed, he goes to her bedroom. She, aware of her power towards him, asks him boldly if he was going to kiss her again and he did it. At that moment, he starts touching her and she asks him if they can take their clothes off, but he answers negatively because his mum was downstairs. It means that, although Marianne had not got any other relationship, she feels at ease with Connell, to the point that she says boldly she had temped him. 

Finally, Sally Rooney turns to the present when Marianne goes out after fighting with his brother. She is going to Connell’s house for the first time, but when she arrives at his door, “he looks over her shoulder, to make sure that no one has seen her arrive”. It underlines another time he wants to keep the relationship between Marianne secret, because he is afraid of other people’s judgement.

Last, but not least, the style used is simple and direct, with the presence of both narration and direct speech. The language is also “visual” since Sally Rooney gives importance to the body language, but in particular to the characters’ dressing style.