Boy21

Finley’s grandmother’s rosary beads usually appear in concert with Pop’s drinking. When Coach comes over to pick Finley up, Pop is “passed-out drunk again with my grandmother’s rosary beads wrapped around his left fist like brass knuckles” (53). In this way, the rosary beads signify both the personal past, which, in Finley’s case, is traumatic, as well as the violence associated with the Bellmont community more broadly. In fact, Finley’s past remains inextricable from violence, as demonstrated by rosary beads being likened to brass knuckles. For Pop, who never takes off the beads, even to bathe, they signify the unmentionables of the past, those memories too painful to dredge up in the daylight.

However, at the end of the book, Pop gives the beads to Finley, even though they are the only item he has left by which to remember his beloved wife. In this way, the beads represent the legacy of the McManus family, signifying that Finley should pass on the beads—as well as the painful stories they represent—to his own children when the time comes. By passing on these beads, it also seems as though Pop is unburdened of some of his guilt, as though understanding family history is a means by which to overcome its trauma. 

Grandfather’s leg “stumps,” as Finley usually refers to them, serve as a reminder of the constant threat of physical violence. They are visceral reminders of the trauma that the McManus family and many other Bellmont families have experienced at the hands of the Irish mob. Importantly, it is never made explicitly clear what happened to Pop’s legs; rather, Finley explains to Russ that“suddenly I was with my father again, only it was at my mother’s funeral and my pop no longer has legs” (232). Grandfather’s stumps represent the silence and secrecy that pervade the Bellmont community, which both stem from violence and allow it to continue.

Although Finley maintains that this silence—like not talking about his grandfather’s legs—is easier than talking, finding it to be a form of control that allows him to escape the violence, he realizes he cannot truly escape it, just as his grandfather will never have legs again. In fact, Finley’s grandfather is the person who finally addresses the fact that he has no legs: “Have you not been lookin’ at these stumps of mine for a decade now?” (212). Even though Pop addresses his lack of legs, he does not directly state how he became handicapped. While it is implied that the Irish mob cut off his legs in retribution for Pop stealing money from them, the lack of explicit acknowledgement represents part of the secrecy associated with Bellmont’s violence. Neither Pop nor Finley can escape the silent reminder of physical trauma inherent within the community. 

Throughout the novel, Finley uses silence as a mode of communication. He has been taught that silence represents the best way of coping with Bellmont’s problems, using it as a method of exerting control over his life. Finley believes that silence presents an opportunity for him to escape the violence imposed on his community. However, Boy21 has a different take on silence: Boy21 believes that silence can be viewed as a method of denying the truth, that not saying something is closer to lying than it is to inaction.

When Finley advises Boy21 to go by Russ and to refrain from mentioning outer space in school, Boy21 asks Finley if “people enjoy hearing mistruths in this sector of Earth” (42). As Finley’s foil, Boy21 contrasts with Finley in his view of silence. In this way, he shows Finley the negative effects silence can have in the community, as it can allow “mistruths” to be perpetuated. This negative view of silence forces Finley to realize that violence pervades his community because individuals in the community are unwilling to acknowledge it. Far from an outcry against violence, this withdrawal from acknowledging the truth represents a tacit acceptance of, and even complicity in communal violence. 

Throughout the novel, Finley, Erin, and Russ escape to Finley’s roof to spend time away from their complicated lives. Many conversations and opportunities for personal reflection occur while Finley is on the roof, physically away from the violence of Bellmont streets. This time spent away from adults is important to Finley’s growth as a character; while on the roof, Finley understands the true meaning of friendship and the value of interpersonal relationships. As a place for silent reflection, the roof is also physically closer to outer space; as such, it is a place where Finley can plan for the future. Away from the violent chaos of the trash-filled Bellmont streets, the roof presents Finley with an opportunity to hope for a positive future.

Much like the possibilities and hope represented by reflection on the roof, outer space symbolizes the unknown. Although the unknown can often be something to fear, for Finley and Russ contemplating the unknown offers comfort, presenting the possibility of opportunities they cannot even imagine. In Boy21, outer space exists as a place as far away from Bellmont as physically possible. Therefore, outer space is presented in a positive way, its light symbolizing the hope of endless possibilities, unlike the violently darkened streets of Bellmont, where futures die.

Although it is originally associated with Russ, Finley appropriates this positive view of outer space, excited by what its potential means for him and Erin: “And then Erin and I are kissing on a new roof, under the same endless unknowable space above, and somehow we’re okay” (250). Through his obsession with outerspace, Russ shows Finley that the future can be a place of hope. Instead of something terrifyingly unpredictable, the future’s unknown becomes something beautiful about which Finley can get excited. Even though his future does not go the way Finley had originally imagined, Russ has taught Finley that the beauty of the cosmos means that things will work out in the way that they should. Finley comes to find beauty in the unknown, which he is reminded of every time he looks up or thinks about the cosmos.