Transcription
Hello and welcome to our video summarizing all you need to know about the novel *About a Boy* by Nick Hornby. My name is Sarah, and in this video, we'll look at the novel specifically, beginning with a plot summary. We will then examine the necessary information you'll need to know before looking at each character's key themes, as well as important symbols. This video is really useful, especially if you're studying this novel as part of your English coursework or exams, as I'll get into the details you need to know to get top marks. So, let's get started.
First, a bit of context. *About a Boy* was published in 1998. Its author, Nick Hornby, was born in 1957 and is a novelist, essayist, lyricist, and screenwriter. He uses his own experiences of being the child of divorced parents (they divorced when he was 11) and also of suffering from depression to inform his writing. Hornby has a son who suffers from autism, and he was involved in the setting up of a charity which aims to help children with this condition. *About a Boy* is concerned with two boys who find it hard to join mainstream society and who constantly feel like outsiders. The book investigates what is meant by normal behavior. Marcus knows that he is different from most other 12-year-olds. He has been so influenced by his mother's strange taste in clothing and music that he has no idea how to behave normally. On the other hand, Will is just an overgrown child. He thinks that he is cool because he's single and goes out clubbing, knows which clothes to wear, and which music to listen to. He does not realize that it would be more normal for him to settle down and behave as other people in their mid-30s do.
Under the plot summary, *About a Boy* is a modern novel set in London in 1993 and is told from two different points of view. Although it is written in the third person, it is told from two different points of view. Although it is written in the third person, the first point of view is through the eyes of Marcus, a twelve-year-old boy who is considered to be uncool by other children and who lives with his mother, Fiona. Marcus used to live in Cambridge when his when his parents were still together, but after they split up, his dad remained in Cambridge while Marcus and Fiona moved to London to start a new life. Marcus has a lot of responsibilities for a young boy since his mum suffers from depression and often finds it difficult to cope with life. The second part of the view is through the eyes of Will, a 36-year-old single man who considers himself to be cool. Will is independently wealthy because his father wrote a famous Christmas song years ago, and Will receives a lot of money in royalties. Will has no responsibilities; in fact, he runs away at the first sign of commitment or responsibility. While his friends are marrying and having children, Will continues to live like a teenager and feels sorry for his friends because he thinks that they have lost their freedom. Through his two main characters, Nick Hornby investigates how we measure and how we react to the problems which life throws at us.
Now into a detailed summary.
Chapters 1-4: Marcus, a 12-year-old boy, is puzzled by adults. He has moved to London with his mother, Fiona, after his parents split up, and he watches his mother go through one relationship after another. Marcus knows that his mother is sad because she often cries, but he is unsure of the actual reason. He hopes that it is to do with boyfriends, and he thinks that as she is pretty and nice and sometimes even funny, she should eventually meet somebody who will make her happy. At the start of the novel, Marcus and his mother have only been in London for a few weeks.
We next meet Will Freeman and see life through his eyes. His view is extremely childlike, and as the chapter opens, Will is in the process of completing a questionnaire in a magazine to see how cool he is. For example, for sleeping with a woman he did not know very well during the past three months, he awards himself of five points. Will only has money because his father found a gap in the market and wrote a famous Christmas song years earlier. It means that Will never needs to find a job. Will thinks of his recent visit to his friends John and Christine, who have two children. Their house is in a terrible mess with toys and clutter everywhere, and Will wonders how anybody can live like that. Since he has plenty of money, he reasons that he will never be in that situation. Will thinks back to when he was going out with a woman called Jessica. They used to go out clubbing with John and Christine before any children came along. Will and Jessica split up because she wanted a more serious relationship. They still made up sometimes, and Jessica shows him photos of her children. She also tells him that he's wasting his life.
Marcus hates his new school. At breakfast, his mother notices how quiet he is and tells him that he will get used to it. So Marcus nods and smiles at her. He reasons that all difficult things become easier after a while, as they did after his dad left. He arrives at school and goes straight to his former room where he feels safer than in the corridors. Sometimes Marcus has it shown in his head and he cannot help letting it just leave out. This happened the previous day at school, and everybody laughed at him. The lessons begin, and Marcus has double math, which he likes and is good at. Then he arranges to join the computer club. However, in English, the discussion is about which characters in *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* are mad. The teacher is young and nervous and wants the class to like her, so she uses Marcus to score an easy victory. She refers to the way he sang for no reason in the lesson the day before. Marcus hates her for this. He understands that she is feeling vulnerable and has picked up on him, the one person in the room who is even more vulnerable than she is. This shows his mature understanding of human nature.
Will meets a woman called Angie in a record shop. He obtains her phone number and a date for dinner. At dinner, she tells Will that she has children, which makes him want to run away. However, he stays and points out that he has never been out with a mother before. She tells him that a lot of single mothers end up hating men. Will begins to see an opportunity here and figures that if single mothers really think that all men are bastards, then he's going to prove that it is not true. He thinks that single mothers are more grateful to a man who is kind to them and their children and are therefore more loving. One night in an Indian restaurant, Angie tells Will that the relationship is over. For Will, this breakup is wonderful. For once, he can watch a woman cry without feeling responsible. He decides to begin his career of going out with single mothers with all the benefits of being a family man and none of the drawbacks.
Chapters 5-8: One Monday morning, Marcus is alarmed because his mother starts crying before breakfast. He goes to school where he now has two friends, Nicky and Mark, who also hide in the forum room before school begins and who also go to the computer club to avoid being bullied. Marcus has never been to Nick's house once after school. Marcus has even been to Nick's house once after school, but one day they tell him that they do not want to be friends with him anymore, as he attracts bullies.
Meanwhile, Will decides to pose as a single father and go to a local single parents group. He invents a two-year-old son called Ned and arrives early at the meeting of SPAT. He feels depressed as he goes into the building because he had been expecting a happy group of people laughing and getting drunk, but there is nobody about. As he enters the room, hisses one woman who introduces herself as Frances, unloading bottles of wine, beer, and soft drinks onto a table. As the other single parents start to arrive, Frances introduces Will. Most ignore him, and he is not very interested in them either, but one woman, Suzie, is very attractive and friendly, so Will sticks by her all evening. She tells him her story. She tells him her history. Her husband left her the day before she had her daughter, Megan. She also tells him the histories of most of the other women in the room. Will feels that he is making progress.
Marcus goes to stay with his dad for the weekend in Cambridge. His dad's girlfriend, Lindsey, is also there. Marcus watches a lot of television, and on the same day, they go to visit Leon's mother in Norfolk. Marcus has a nice time, and Leon's mum, whom he likes, gives him five pounds for no reason. When he goes back to school, he goes up into his favorite newsagent on the way home, and the newsagent, Mr. Patel, asks how his mother is. Suddenly, the bullies are in the shop, laughing and pushing Marcus. After the bullies leave, Marcus finds that his pockets are stuffed with chocolate and chewing gum. Mr. Patel tells him not to worry, as he was watching the whole time. He asks whether the bullies are at the same school as Marcus and advises him to keep out of their way. Marcus wishes that life was that simple. When he gets home, Marcus finds his mother lying on the floor watching cartoons. She tells him she took the afternoon off sick. He asks her what is wrong and tells her not to treat him like an idiot. She announces that Marcus is going to a picnic in Regent's Park the following Saturday, which is being organized by SPAT. Marcus replies that he hates the SPAT people and has done since his mother took him to one of their summer parties when they first moved to London. Will is also going to the picnic with Susie, and they go into this car. Megan, her baby, has to be in the pram in her corset, so Will travels in the back with Marcus, whom he has never met before. Will feels uncomfortable among all the single parents as he has no child with him, so he takes part in all the activities and throws aesthetically so that he does not have to talk with them. He sees Marcus wandering about on his own, and just then, Susie approaches him, and they begin to talk about relationships. Will thinks that he and Susie are about to move to the next stage in their relationship when Marcus suddenly appears in front of them, tells them that he thinks he has killed a duck.
Chapters 9-12: Will goes along with this and tells the keeper that Marcus would never hurt a duck and only threw the bread at the already dead body to try to sink it, as it was upsetting Megan. At this moment, Marcus thinks that he sees his mother standing in front of them in the middle of the path, smiling. He waves and turns to tell Susie that his mother has decided to join them, but when he turns back, his mother has disappeared. Marcus never tells anybody about this. When Susie takes Marcus home, she insists on coming into the flat with him. He, Suzie, Carrion, Megan, and Will all walk into the flat, and the first thing Marcus sees is his mother lying on the crusty sofa, her head near the floor, and a pool of vomit in front of her. Will calls another lens and makes black coffee. Fiona now begins to come around, making an awful noise. Susie goes in the ambulance with Fiona, and Will drives Marcus and the baby Megan in Susie's car. He asks Marcus how he feels, and Marcus replies that he doesn't know. At the hospital, Susie is in the waiting room, and Fiona has been taken away somewhere. When Will and Marcus arrive, they sit down, and Susie tells them that the doctors are pumping Fiona's stomach at the moment. Will and Susie sit together through the evening. The baby goes to sleep, and Marcus goes back and forth to the vending machine. They watch all the people who come to the accident and emergency department, many of them drunk or on drugs or mad. Will thinks to himself that people need to look after themselves. He does not really care about anyone else at this stage. A woman comes over to tell them that Fiona will be kept in hospital overnight, and arrangements are made for Marcus to stay with Susie. Will finds himself thinking about Marcus and Fiona quite a lot and wonders if they need him. He imagines building a relationship with Marcus, taking him out here and there, possibly to watch Arsenal play football. He considers taking Fiona out to dinner or the theatre as well. Strangely, as he's thinking about this, Marcus telephones him to say that Susie has told him that Will would like to take him out for the day. He adds that he will come if Will agrees to take Fiona too. It takes Will a few moments to realize that Marcus is afraid to leave his mother alone. They agree to meet the following Saturday, and Will makes an excuse for not being able to bring Ned with him.
Chapters 13-16: While Marcus is waiting for Will to collect him and Fiona for their outing, he thinks about how he can bring Will and Fiona together. He decides that because his mum is pretty and Will's wealthy, the relationship would work, and then all four of them could live together. He is, of course, including Will's invented son, Ned. He even thinks that his mum, at 38, is not too old to have another baby with Will, so then there will be five of them in the family. He is happy with this plan because with five people around, it will not matter so much if one of them were to die. Marcus has been following Will secretly, so he knows where he lives and does his shopping. Marcus tells his mother that he wants Will to take them to Planet Hollywood, which a boy at his old school had told him about, and he is hoping to see a famous person there, such as Bruce Willis. When Will arrives, he introduces himself to Fiona, even though he had seen her the previous week when she attempted suicide. As Fiona introduces herself, Marcus looks at her and feels proud. She's wearing her best leggings, a baggy hairy jumper, dangly earrings, and has put on makeup. They have agreed to go to Planet Hollywood, even though Will is not very keen. However, the queue is so long that they go to the 28th, which is nice and serves good fries. Soon, though, Will is thinking that Fiona is not his type. He likes tall, long-haired, classically beautiful women who dress smartly, but Fiona is too much like a hippie in his opinion. He plans instead to take Fiona and Marcus out now and then as his new do-good project. However, a few days later, Fiona invites him to supper. The food is not to his taste, as it is vegetarian, but the conversation is pleasant enough. Then the awful part begins when Fiona decides to play the piano and sing. Will decides that he cannot even be friends with this woman.
One afternoon, as he is waiting for Camden to begin, there is a ring at the door. It is Marcus, who announces that he has come to see Will and that he knows that Will does not have a child. He asks if he can use the bathroom, and while he's out of the room, Will desperately tries to think of a story to explain his child's absence. However, Marcus has a good look around while he is supposed to be in the bathroom, and when he returns, he tells Will that there are absolutely no signs of a child in the place, such as toys or photos. He starts going to Will's house most days after school. Will is not very enthusiastic at first, but he lets Marcus come in and watch Countdown with him. They talk, and Marcus eventually admits that he hates school because it doesn't suit him. When Will asks if people give him a hard time, Marcus tries to play down saying that there is just a couple of kids who mock his haircut and his glasses, as well as his habit of singing at inappropriate times. Marcus continues to visit Will regularly, and they fall into a routine. They watch Countdown and chat about what is happening in Marcus's life. Marcus is still very frightened that Fiona might try to kill herself again, and one of the reasons that he visits Will is to put off going home for a bit longer. When Will asks him how often he thinks about the day of his mother's attempted suicide, Marcus mumbles that he doesn't know because he cannot admit that it is all the time. It seems that Will has understood how scared Marcus is. He invites Marcus to stay a bit longer that day. Will resolves once again not to get involved with Marcus's problems and congratulates himself on not having a single problem of his own.
One afternoon, there is the sound of gravel hitting his window and a frantic ringing of the doorbell. Standing on the doorstep is Marcus, being bombarded with hard sweets, a couple of which hit Will, and they hurt. Will sees his two older boys with mean-looking faces and skinhead haircuts, and he swears at them and tells them to go away. Will takes Marcus out to buy a pair of new trainers. Marcus chooses a pair of idealized basketball boots which cost £60 and which Will says make him look cool. The next day, when Marcus arrives on Will's doorstep, he is in tears, and standing in his socks. The new trainers have been stolen.
Chapters 17-20: Marcus is taken home by Will, and Fiona notices instantly that Marcus is wearing just his socks on his feet. She takes Marcus straight back to Will's house and asks him why a grown man would want to hang out with a 12-year-old boy. Will is angry and asks her if she's suggesting what he thinks she is. He adds that she's suggesting that he has been fiddling with Marcus. Will loses his temper and, using a lot of swear words, tells her that he has no choice because Marcus comes around every night and that he's being bullied mercilessly at home. Marcus feels relieved that his mother knows the truth about where he has been going in the afternoons. She tells him that Will is not a good role model and that she has been Marcus's mum for 12 years, so she knows what she's doing. Marcus doubts this and tells her that she has always made his mind up for him, such as about being a vegetarian or watching violent films. Fiona says she wants him to think for himself, but Marcus asks that as soon as he does that, Fiona takes over and never lets him win an argument. He then does something which he feels bad about because he knows it will make her cry. He tells her that he wants to carry on seeing Will because he needs a father.
This year, Will has no plans for Christmas and thinks that he will stay at home, watch a lot of films, and get drunk and stoned. He feels that he's entitled to a break, even though he has no work to have a break from. Will thinks of Marcus, whom he has not seen since Fiona's outburst the previous week. He thinks that actually, he and Marcus are not so different. Even though Will grew up with money and Marcus has none, Will's father was alcoholic who killed himself with drink, and Marcus's mother tried to commit suicide with sleeping pills. The following day, Fiona rings Will, and they agree to meet for a drink. The following evening, she accuses Will of being selfish, and he replies that he's on his own and has nobody else to think about, and therefore he cannot help putting himself first. Fiona contradicts herself when she tells Will that Marcus is in his life and he can't just shut him out. Marcus is left alone in his flat while his mother goes for a drink with Will. He locks the door, does his homework, which is some TV, and plays on the computer.
The next day, he has to go to see the headmistress, Mrs. Morrison, but they're stolen trainers, which his mother has complained about. He waits outside Mrs. Morrison's office with a girl called Ellie McRae, who is in Year 10, and she is famous throughout the school for being bad, and she is wearing a sweatshirt which is not part of the school uniform, but which she refuses to take off. It has a picture of a man with straggly hair and half a beard. Marcus thinks he looks like a modern blonde Jesus. Just then, the headmistress calls him into her office. Marcus says goodbye to Ellie, but he's glad to leave her, as she frightens him a bit. In the headmistress's office, Marcus loses his temper because Mrs. Morrison starts telling him about survival strategies and suggesting that he keep out of the bullies' way. He is so frustrated that he stands up to leave, and when Mrs. Morrison tells him to sit down again, he just walks out.
At the same time, Will is driving around London and enjoys driving and feeling a part of the hustle and bustle of the city. As he's driving along her street, Mrs. Marcus walking along in a world of his own. He wonders why Marcus is not in school at 4:15. Marcus rings the doorbell. Will leaves him on the doorstep, and Marcus just presses the buzzer for half an hour. While Will continues to listen to neo-renaissance, eventually he lets him in, and he asks Marcus whether he had a good afternoon. Marcus is rather hesitant in his answer, mumbling something about a history lesson. He reveals that he saw him in Upper Street, and Marcus replies that he had to nip out for something. Will realizes that the kind of help that Marcus needs is the information to let him be a kid, not an adult. Will can teach him about football and music and all the other important things that a twelve-year-old boy at a comprehensive school needs to know.
Chapters 21-24: They say that they will see him around, and Marcus thinks that it is the longest conversation he has had in school for ages. The next day in school, he sees Ellie with Zoe by the vending machine. Ellie greets him in a friendly way and puts her arm around Marcus and ruffles his hair. At the moment, Mrs. Morrison turns up and tells Ellie to go to her office. Marcus can see that Ellie just does not care. She shrugs and goes along with the headmistress. As they leave, Mrs. Morrison tells Marcus that they have unfinished business, and Ellie catches his eye and smiles. Marcus feels that he is part of a trio with Ellie and Zoe. At lunch time, they come to find him, and the other pupils in Marcus's form class are amazed because they were all in awe of Ellie and cannot believe that she is friendly with Marcus.
Will is going off the idea of spending Christmas alone. He decides that people judge other people by the way they spend their Christmases, and spending it alone, drunk and stoned, does not give a very positive message about his life. He decides to find a family with whom he can spend Christmas. There's just one firm year that he wants to avoid: he does not want to eat roast, not be allowed to watch television, or be forced to sing carols with his eyes closed. So, having decided that he will on no account spend Christmas with Fiona and Marcus, it is a surprise when Marcus invites Will to spend the day with him and his mom. Will does not want to hurt Marcus's feelings, so he keeps making excuses and sounding undecided until eventually, after a lot of questioning from Marcus about whether he has other plans, he finds himself accepting. Presents are exchanged. Marcus thinks about how Christmas is better if your parents are separated because you get the best of both worlds; you get sensible presents, but you also get fun presents. He thinks that if his mom and dad were still together, there would have been just the three of them on Christmas Day, which would have been boring. Then Susie comes round with her little girl, Megan. Will has not seen Susie since his life about being a single parent was exposed, and he is very embarrassed. Will decides enough is enough and gets up to leave, but Marcus says that he doesn't want him to go yet. He says that Will welcomed him into his own boredom. Trainers and listens to him, or as his mother just tells him to get used to being bullied. Will refers to how Marcus killed the duck, and Marcus is at first horrified that Will brings it up until he realizes that Will is calming the situation down and making people laugh.
Will goes to a New Year's Eve party where he meets a woman called Rachel and falls in love. Rachel is a children's book illustrator, and Will thinks she is very attractive, glamorous, and clever, with long dark wavy hair. Rachel sits next to him at dinner, and Will is sad that although she seems to like him for the first five minutes, he feels that as soon as she works him out, she will lose interest. When Rachel turns back to include him in a discussion about music, this tells him that she thinks you're gonna sound like Led Zeppelin. Will replies that he knows a 12-year-old boy who would kill her for saying that, and Rachel tells Will that she also knows, but while we oh boy and asks what Will's boy is called. Will tells her Marcus's name, and Rachel tells him that her son is called Ali. Will does not exactly lie, but he does not prevent Rachel from assuming that Marcus is his son or that he has played up with Marcus's mother. Having established that they were both single, they find each other at midnight and kiss. Just before Rachel leaves, they arrange to get their two boys together.
Chapters 25-28: Marcus goes with his mother to Susie's New Year's Eve party, and he's surprised to see Ellie there. She finds out her mother, who is dancing wildly, punching the air, and shaking her hair around, and he tells Marcus that she is embarrassed by her mother. Ellie brings him a Coke with sherry in it, and Marcus thinks that it smells like trifle. Ellie tells him that she knows his mom tried to kill herself because she heard her mother talking about it with Susie. Ellie needs to make the connection with Marcus until much later, and he feels that it is unfair that people criticize mothers for not putting their children first with the same rules or applied to fathers. Marcus finds that he's enjoying having a real conversation with somebody of a similar age to him, even though it is a miserable subject. He desperately wants to keep the conversation going, and in a panic, he asks Ellie if she wants to dance, even though he's hopeless at it.
The following week, Will takes Marcus to an amusement arcade, and while they play on the machines, Will tells Marcus that he has made Rachel think that Marcus is his son and that he needs him to play along with the misunderstanding because he really likes this woman and wants her to be his girlfriend. Will arranges to take Marcus to Rachel's house one Saturday lunchtime. When Marcus arrives at Will's, he is wearing the hairy Christmas jumper and bright yellow corduroy trousers, and Will is horrified because he has dressed in his trendiest clothes. He briefly considers taking Marcus shopping for new clothes but ignores the urge and tries to feel proud of his son. Rachel owns a tall, thin house near Camden Lock, and it is cozy and welcoming with lots of books and old family photos. They go up to meet Rachel's son, Ali, who is in his room playing computer games and wearing headphones. Marcus closes and his face seems to darken. Rachel introduces the two boys and asks if they want to hang out in Ali's room for a bit while she and Will go downstairs. As Will is leaving the room, he looks at Marcus, and Marcus looks at him. At that moment, Will really loves Marcus because he's making such a sacrifice for Will. As soon as Rachel and Will go downstairs, Ali says that Marcus swears that there is no way his mother is going to get together with Will. He adds that if they do get together, then Marcus is dead, and he tells him that he does not want either Marcus or Will again. Marcus calls replies that it is not really up to him, but Ali says that it had better be, or my voice is dead. Marcus tells Ali that Will is keen on Rachel and suggests that she might be keen on Will, which drives Ali into a fury. He screams that his mum is not keen on Will because she has been on him. Marcus decides to leave. Will finds him some time later standing at a bus stop. He gets into Will's car and explains to him that Ali's mad and threatening to kill him if Will goes out with Rachel. Marcus laughs when Will tells him that at this moment Ali is crying his eyes out. Ali apologizes on the way home from school that week. Marcus is waiting outside the newsagent for Ellie. When Lee Hartley, the bully, and his gang surround Marcus, and one boy steals his glasses. When Ellie comes out, she orders the boy to give Marcus his glasses back and then hits the boy in the face. Marcus is unable to speak or listen to anything; he just looks at Ellie in adoration.
Will thinks about his developing relationship with Rachel. He worries about the presence about Marcus being his son and says that he cannot have a long-term relationship based on the lie. One night in a Japanese restaurant, he tells Rachel that Marcus is not his biological son. Will tells her the whole story of his involvement with Marcus and Fiona, only leaving out the part about joining SPAT. They go back to Rachel's for coffee.
Chapters 29-32: Marcus is relieved that nothing dramatic has happened for some time. He sees Will, Ellie, and her friend Zoe regularly. Will has taken him to have his hair cut and has bought him new glasses and has introduced him to some new singers. One day, Marcus's mother starts crying again for no reason. The crying starts slowly but increases so that one night Fiona sobs uncontrollably. Marcus tells Will about it, and at the time, they are in the middle of their regular Thursday afternoon routine of toasting crumpets. Marcus goes home and thinks that sometimes Will does not seem very pleased to see him when he goes around to visit him, whereas Ellie always does. However, the next day at school, Ellie is in a terrible mood, and when Marcus asks what has happened, Zoe tells him that Kurt Cobain tried to kill himself with an overdose, and he adds that Kurt Cobain will definitely kill himself eventually because he wants to die and hates this world. "Arrghh," is Phil's sake, when he hears this, and has the sensation that the room is beginning to spin, and the colour is draining out of it. They have a coffee, and Rachel tells Will that she thinks he must be very strong-minded to leave as he does without a family or a job because there is nothing between him and despair, yet she feels that Will is not a very desperate person. He tries to joke that he is too stupid, and they discuss his attitude toward life and the way that he enjoys food, music, and television. Rachel tells him that she was depressed a few years earlier and even considered killing herself, but could not do it because of Ali. Rachel suggests that she could have a talk with Fiona. Will thinks he has never felt so happy.
Marcus is adjusting to the longer, lighter evenings now that winter is over. He feels that everything should be better, including his mother's depression. Fiona tells him that he has to go to Cambridge to see his dad, as Claire has fallen off a window ledge and broken his collarbone. The next day, he tells Ellie about it at break time, and she says that he should go and tell his dad what he thinks of him. She adds that she will go with him and give his dad a piece of her mind. Marcus daydreams about going on a train journey with Ellie and thinks it would be heavenly. Marcus gets on the underground train and sees an old man opposite him reading a newspaper. In the front is a picture of Kurt Cobain with a headline saying that he is dead. Ellie tells him that she's not really alright and brings out a bottle of vodka, announcing that she is going to get drunk. Will has arranged to go to a pub in Islington with Rachel and Fiona. While Marcus is visiting his dad in Cambridge, Will imagines that they will chat for a while over their drinks, that he will then make an excuse to leave so that Rachel and Fiona can talk. He arrives at the pub first, and then Fiona comes in. Will thinks that she seems a bit manic and nervous. She sips her gin and ice very quickly, and they talk awkwardly about Marcus. When Rachel has not shown up after half an hour, Fiona asks Will whether she really exists. He goes to telephone Rachel, but there is no reply, and he realizes that he has been set up. Rachel never intended to come; she wanted Will to go with Fiona himself. They go to Pizza Express, and Will thinks that the last time he was there was with his ex-girlfriend Jessica, who always tried to make him unhappy. He thinks how he was never involved with anyone in those days, but now it seems that everybody else's problems are his problems. He wonders whether it is better off now than when he had no connection to people. They get a taxi back to Fiona's place, and Will hears about Kurt Cobain's death on the taxi video. He worries that Marcus and Ellie will take the news badly. He asks Fiona if he can come in and listen to Marcus's and Ellie's cell phone message just to check that he is alright. They then find out that Marcus is calling from a police station in Royston, and he sounds small, lonely, and afraid.
Chapters 33-36: Ellie swears and says that the owner is trying to make money out of his death already. She breaks the glass with her boots and takes the cut-out from the window. Some people approach them, and eventually, they are taken to the police station. They wait for Will, Fiona, and Ellie's mother to arrive, and his mother, Katrina, phones, and they arrange to collect her and drive to Royston. Will compares this day to "dead duck day" when Fiona tried to kill herself. He thinks that he enjoyed that day not because of her attempted suicide, more than this day, because before he was not involved with any of them, but now he cares deeply about Marcus and Fiona. The journey is enjoyable, like a road trip. Will is amazed that because of his relationship with Marcus, he has come into contact with all these people and is eventually enjoying himself. In the police station, Will watches the scene. Clive and Lindsey are looking angrily at Marcus, and Ellie is glaring at anybody who dares to look at her. They wait for the shop owner to arrive, and Ellie announces that she is going to give him a piece of her mind. A young woman is shown in, and Will thinks that she could be Ali's older sister. She's wearing a Kurt Cobain sweatshirt and a lot of black eye makeup. Ellie demands to know whether the police told her to look like that. Her confidence seems to lessen as the young woman, Ruth, tells her that she loves Nirvana and that today is the saddest day of her life. She adds that the cardboard cutout has always been in the window, and she is ashamed and whispers that she's sorry, and Ruth gives her a hug. Fiona gets up and hugs Marcus, confessing in front of everyone that she has not been a good mother and has let things slide. Will watches all these people hugging one another and tries to make sense of it.
He cannot remember having been involved in such a web of people before and feels that he has been offered a glimpse of what it means to be human. When Will asks why Ellie was on the train with him, Marcus says that he cannot remember, but that she's not right for him; he needs somebody less different from himself. Katrina jokes that Ellie is not right for anybody. She wishes Marcus luck in finding somebody not too different for himself, saying that a lot of people have spent half their lives in searching for someone less different and have not found them. Will wonders whether people are single because they are all looking for somebody less different. He thinks of Rachel and considers that the whole part of her is that she is not him. He concludes that people only look for somebody similar to themselves if they were happy with who they are. For most people who are not so happy with themselves, it makes sense to find somebody completely different. Marcus ends up going to stay with his father and Lindsey. Clive confesses that he realizes now that he should not have left Marcus and Fiona, but Marcus tells him that it is not important anymore and that he can always contact his dad if things get too bad. He tells himself that he can cope now and is even stronger than his mother and Ellie, or he will always make sure that he has a network of people to rely on. They talk a bit more, and Clive asks if Marcus would mind if Lindsey and he had a baby. Marcus answers that he would like it.
Will worries all the time that he loves Rachel so much that she might finish with him. This is when he realizes that loving another person is not risk-free. Will takes Marcus and Ali out on Saturdays. He actually enjoys taking the boys out, and they have a routine. First, they have lunch in a burger bar, then they go to watch a film, and finish with a meal check at a different burger bar. He also takes them to watch Arsenal sometimes, and he is still a bit nice to Marcus now and then. Ali is still having nested to Marcus now and then, but Will notices that Marcus is far more mature than Ali. He dresses better now and has his hair cut regularly, and surprisingly, he is friendlier than ever with Ellie and Zoe. Fiona tells Will one day that Marcus seems so much older now, and that she feels she's losing him. When she says that she thinks he has been smoking, Will loves but Phyllis is nothing funny. Will tells her that he thinks she seems better recently, and she replies that she thinks she is, even though she cannot explain it. Will does not tell her what she thinks the reason is: that Marcus is now much easier to cope with. He now has friends and has come out of himself, exactly as Will has done. Will considers how he, Marcus, and Fiona have all had to lose things so that they can gain other things. Will has lost the barrier he used to keep between himself and other people, but he now has Rachel. Fiona has lost the dependence of Marcus, but he's now much better mentally, and Marcus has lost himself, but he's no longer a target for bullies. The novel ends on a funny note as Marcus announces that his board will tell Fiona to take out her piano music so they can all sing a song called "Both Sides Now." She joins in the joke and agrees, but Marcus begs Fiona not to and shouts out that he bloody hates Joni Mitchell. At that moment, Will knows that Marcus will be alright.
On to character analysis.
**Marcus**
Marcus is one of the two main characters in *About a Boy*. Although he does not narrate in the first person, we see events from his point of view through an Ensign narrator. As the novel opens, we see that he has recently moved to London with Fiona, his mother, after she split up with Marcus's father, Clive. Clive has stayed in Cambridge. Marcus and Fiona moved at the beginning of the summer holidays so that Marcus could get used to living in London before starting school. Marcus is a sensitive boy, and he is nervous about going to a new school because he knows that he is different from other children. His mother asks him if he minds her having boyfriends, and Marcus replies that he does not mind. He thinks that his life has changed enormously since his parents split up and that, on the whole, he prefers this new life because a lot more happens. He does not have a normal sense of humor and is unable to understand when somebody is being sarcastic. As the novel progresses, he learns to recognize when somebody is being sarcastic or trying to be funny, and he responds in a way that he thinks is appropriate because this will make him seem less of an outsider. Marcus is terrified of being left alone if his mother dies. After her attempted suicide, he devotes a lot of thoughts to finding ways of bringing more people into their circle of friends so that if she does die, he'll not be alone. Marcus often seems like a grown man in a child's body because he feels the pressure of life for more than most 12-year-olds. He dresses in an old-fashioned way and listens to the music which his mother likes. He does not know about the latest music or fashion, and this makes him seem different from other children. Marcus does not have very good self-awareness; he turns up on Will's doorstep every afternoon, not considering that Will may not always want to see him. One day, he even stands with his finger pressing the buzzer for over half an hour until Will finally lets him in. Marcus is very loyal to his mother; even after he has worked out that she is part of his problem in not being accepted by other children, he still tries to protect her. Marcus is kind; everything he does is with the intention of helping. He often agrees to do something which he knows he will not enjoy simply to make life easier for other people. Marcus hero-worships Ellie. He initially thinks that he wants her to be his girl, and until he realizes that she is too different from him and would be hard to manage.
**Will**
Will Freeman is the other main character in *About a Boy*. He is 36 years old and owns a flat in London. He does not need to work; in fact, he has never had a job because his father wrote a Christmas song many years earlier, and Will receives royalty payments every month on which he is able to live very well. Will thinks that he has a fantastic life because he does what he wants whenever he wants to, and it is true that he has a very expensive lifestyle. However, he is rather selfish and does not see himself as a member of a society in which we all have a duty to help others. However, it becomes clear to the reader that he is actually quite lonely. Will thinks that it is better to live alone than to be part of a family, and he feels sorry for his friends John and Christine, who have a toddler and a new baby. Will thinks that their lives are over and cannot imagine living as they do with toys and clutter all over the house. Will is immature and behaves more like a teenager than Marcus does. He buys magazines in order to do the quizzes and make sure that he's up to date with the latest music and singers. He considers himself to be very cool, but he's unable to see that other people of his age actually pity him because his existence seems pointless. He is afraid to commit to a relationship; whenever a woman seems to be growing too fond of him, he ends the relationship. If the woman happens to mention that she would like to settle down and have children with him, he is terrified. Will is devious; he does not feel bad about posing as a single parent and pretending to have a child. Will is, however, a good-hearted person. He helps Marcus a lot when he is being bullied and worrying about his mother by offering him a place to escape from his problems and by giving him advice. He often gets cross about being put in a position where he has no choice but to help, but nonetheless, he does the right thing. Finally, Will is insecure. It is obvious to the reader by the end of the novel that Will does not engage normally with other people because he is afraid of being rejected.
Under theme analysis:
**Isolation**
Will and Marcus both live in London, a huge, bustling city. It is impossible to know everyone, but each area has its own community, and within that community, people form various groups made up of work colleagues, family, and friends. Hornby has set the novel in and around Holloway in North London, which is an area he knows and loves. If we try to resist belonging to such a group, we find ourselves isolated. Will thinks that if he keeps his distance between himself and the outside world, never allowing himself to become too close to another person, then he will not be hurt or disappointed. On the other hand, Marcus feels afraid because he only has his mother, and after her failed suicide attempt, he desperately tries to bring other people into their network so that in the event of her trying again, he will not be left alone. Therefore, Hornby shows two different forms of isolation: one where the person is afraid to bond with others in case he gets hurt, the other where a person is desperate to form bonds with others in case he gets hurt.
**Adulthood and Growing Up**
The theme of adulthood and growing up runs through the novel. We are able to see how Will views himself and the world around him. He is a 36-year-old man and with his life experience should really be more analytical about people and situations. However, it could be said that he refuses to grow up and is more like a child trapped inside a man's body. By contrast, we also see the world through Marcus's eyes, and he is weighed down by worry and responsibility that he seems more like a man trapped inside a 12-year-old's body. Gradually, as the novel unfolds, we see the two characters exchange roles until Will eventually accepts that he's a grown-up with commitments to other people, and Marcus learns to accept that adults are not his responsibility and he is not to blame for other people's failings, such as his mother's depression. At the end, Will is a normal adult, and Marcus is a normal child.
**Depression and Mental Health Issues**
In *About a Boy*, Nick Hornby explores some aspects of mental health or well-being through the character of Fiona. Hornby looks at the way people with depression try to cope with everyday life while they may be feeling helpless or even suicidal. Hornby himself has experienced depression. Hornby has a son, Harry, who has autism, and he has directly involved in the foundation of a charity, 300, while trying to find specialized education for him. Marcus could be described as being mildly autistic; he does not get jokes or sarcasm and usually takes everything literally, which is a typical response for somebody who is autistic. Through Fiona and Marcus, Hornby demonstrates that mental health issues are just another aspect of life, as common as any other problem.
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