100 Kick-Ass Female Characters: #91
91. Marianne Mulvaney, as seen in the novel We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates and the film We Were the Mulvaneys, portrayed by Tammy Blanchard
I have a love/hate relationship with Joyce Carol Oates. There are books of hers which I love and recommend to everyone, and there are books of hers I despise and don't understand why they're so revered. And then there is We Were the Mulvaneys, which breaks my heart in every possible way and does it beautifully.
We Were the Mulvaneys tells the tale of an upper-middle-class family in Mt. Ephraim, New York who is known throughout town for their perfection. Michael runs a successful roofing company while Corinne is a stay-at-home mother. Michael Junior is a star football player who joins the marines, Marianne is a popular student, her twin brother Patrick is a genius headed to college on a scholarship, and Judd is the youngest, in awe of his siblings. And then everything goes wrong on Valentine's Day when Marianne is date raped after prom. Michael doesn't understand why Marianne won't press charges against her attacker and slowly descends into alcoholism, losing his business and the Mulvaney family home. Patrick drops out of school and starts a vigilante quest to get revenge on Marianne's rapist. Mike Junior stays far away, wanting nothing to do with the dissolution of his family, and Judd bears witness to his mother's refusal to accept anything while he struggles to stay afloat. But the true sadness is Marianne, whom Michael sends away to Salamanca to live with family members because he is unable to handle her rape, and Marianne spends the next 15 years bouncing around without roots, desperately waiting for her father to invite her back home, an invitation that never comes.
What I love about Marianne is, even for the genuine sadness of her story, she is one of the most hopeful characters I've ever read, played especially to perfection by Tammy Blanchard in the film. She genuinely believes the best in her family, even though they essentially abandon her in the wake of her rape, and she thinks if she just stays away long enough, they will be able to come to terms with her rape, she can return to the farm, and all will be as it was. The only companion Marianne has throughout this is her cat, who leads her to the veterinarian she eventually builds a life with; he is wonderfully understanding of everything Marianne has been through and she begins to truly heal when she finds acceptance with him. Marianne's own thoughts and feelings over her rape are deeply conflicted; she partially blames herself for being intoxicated and she desperately wishes everyone would forget it, not wanting to be defined by it. Marianne's story is genuinely sad, but she is also one of the strongest characters I've ever come across.
And that's an inspiring kind of kick-ass.
I have a love/hate relationship with Joyce Carol Oates. There are books of hers which I love and recommend to everyone, and there are books of hers I despise and don't understand why they're so revered. And then there is We Were the Mulvaneys, which breaks my heart in every possible way and does it beautifully.
We Were the Mulvaneys tells the tale of an upper-middle-class family in Mt. Ephraim, New York who is known throughout town for their perfection. Michael runs a successful roofing company while Corinne is a stay-at-home mother. Michael Junior is a star football player who joins the marines, Marianne is a popular student, her twin brother Patrick is a genius headed to college on a scholarship, and Judd is the youngest, in awe of his siblings. And then everything goes wrong on Valentine's Day when Marianne is date raped after prom. Michael doesn't understand why Marianne won't press charges against her attacker and slowly descends into alcoholism, losing his business and the Mulvaney family home. Patrick drops out of school and starts a vigilante quest to get revenge on Marianne's rapist. Mike Junior stays far away, wanting nothing to do with the dissolution of his family, and Judd bears witness to his mother's refusal to accept anything while he struggles to stay afloat. But the true sadness is Marianne, whom Michael sends away to Salamanca to live with family members because he is unable to handle her rape, and Marianne spends the next 15 years bouncing around without roots, desperately waiting for her father to invite her back home, an invitation that never comes.
What I love about Marianne is, even for the genuine sadness of her story, she is one of the most hopeful characters I've ever read, played especially to perfection by Tammy Blanchard in the film. She genuinely believes the best in her family, even though they essentially abandon her in the wake of her rape, and she thinks if she just stays away long enough, they will be able to come to terms with her rape, she can return to the farm, and all will be as it was. The only companion Marianne has throughout this is her cat, who leads her to the veterinarian she eventually builds a life with; he is wonderfully understanding of everything Marianne has been through and she begins to truly heal when she finds acceptance with him. Marianne's own thoughts and feelings over her rape are deeply conflicted; she partially blames herself for being intoxicated and she desperately wishes everyone would forget it, not wanting to be defined by it. Marianne's story is genuinely sad, but she is also one of the strongest characters I've ever come across.
And that's an inspiring kind of kick-ass.