Mystic River

Chapter 18 highlights the effects of silence on relationships through Celeste’s increasing suspicion that Dave killed Katie. Though the circumstances in which Dave came home early Sunday morning contribute to her suspicions, most of her unease is derived from her perception of Dave. By describing him as someone with “a fantasy life going on behind his too-still eyes that no one else could enter” (241), Celeste touches upon human nature’s inherent distrust toward what we cannot understand; because she knows that Dave keeps things from her, Celeste can easily conclude that the man she loves is capable of darkness. Here, the novel conveys how silence can drive wedges between people and lead to dangerous accusations.

Celeste also represents the corroding effects of guilt; having played a role—however unwitting—in whatever crime Dave committed, her complicity in a possible murder causes her to become paranoid. This paranoia is apparent, making Sean even more suspicious of Dave because of his wife’s clear effort to hide something from him. As he describes her as having “pure terror in her face, the look of someone who expected to get hit by a bus” (246), Sean describes the physical expressions of her guilt and fear. In Dave not communicating with his wife and Celeste not expressing her thoughts to her husband or Sean, the cloud of suspicion that surrounds Dave only thickens, obscuring every possibility of his innocence.

As Whitey begins to classify Dave as a possible thrill killer in Chapter 19, the novel reiterates the problem of using someone’s history of abuse to determine character. This contributes to the novel’s primary focus on representing the ways the past influences one’s future; that a single moment has a ripple effect that sometimes won’t be revealed until much later. The chapter also emphasizes revenge; as Jimmy pledges to avenge Katie’s murder, he foreshadows his deliverance of justice and suggests that the life of crime he left behind was never left behind for good. Furthermore, the murder he committed long before is pointedly connected to his memory of a man begging beside Mystic River, emphasizing the location’s connection with Jimmy’s violent and secret past and alluding to it being witness to another act of violence.

Chapter 19 also explores the connection between masculinity and violence, as Brendan fantasizes about claiming his own sense of revenge. As he wishes he were the kind of man who could eviscerate someone for taking someone he loved, Brendan reveals a sense of emasculation from his inability to prevent or avenge his loss. The novel makes a brief study of masculinity by centering vengeance around masculinity; the men in the novel feel that something was taken from them, and vengeance offers solace in rebalancing the scales. Finally, the chapter symbolizes silence through Ray, whose reaction to Brendan’s grief comes across as empty and cold because his signs don’t carry the same emotion as Brendan’s words. The brothers can’t effectually communicate primarily because Brendan believes that Ray cannot understand the scope of his grief; because “communication was not relative” (266), he is perceived as lacking the full scale of human emotion.

Chapter 20 builds upon the legacy of the past and the effects of silence as Sean interacts with his parents. As Sean explains to his parents that the only contact he has with his estranged wife are semi-frequent phone calls where she says nothing, they are not disturbed. In fact, his mother’s comment pointedly represents one of the greatest sources of conflict throughout the novel: the complete lack of meaningful communication. The effects of silence are long-lasting, and until the silence is overcome, none of the characters will achieve their necessary growth. Sean’s interaction with his father represents an unwillingness to address the past. In claiming “[b]ad shit happens to everyone” (275) and that the problem with Sean’s generation is that they hold onto their pain, Sean’s father touches upon a tradition that advocates for the repression of trauma. As the chapter closes, Sean’s father’s belief in leaving the past alone is momentarily destabilized as he expresses his relief that his son never got in the car (278). Sean’s father’s comment undermines all that he has said about not being affected by the past; he can recognize that Sean’s life would not be the same if he’d experienced what Dave had and is glad Sean escaped that fate.

In Chapter 21, pedophilia is represented through the curse of the vampire: “Maybe one day you wake up and forget what it was to be human. Maybe that happens, and then it’s okay” (283). As Dave describes the “poison” of vampirism as “something attractive” (282-83), Dave concedes his own desire to repeat what was done to him. Dave’s childhood sexual abuse is traumatizing: The long-lasting consequences are manifesting as new traumas, producing a yearning to repeat the event. Moreover, as Dave reveals that he did indeed kill someone Saturday night, the novel further associates his past with his need for violence: “He’d wanted blood that night, the Boy, he’d wanted to cause some fucking pain” (288). This, and the direct revelation that Dave has suppressed pedophilic urges for his entire adult life, contribute to the growing sense of darkness surrounding Dave, heightening the psychological tension of the novel.