Name one of the texts on your comparative course. Identify a hero, heroine or
villain from the text. Describe the moment when you believe you saw the most
heroic or most villainous aspect of your chosen character. Explain why you believe
that this moment revealed the most heroic or most villainous aspect of his or
her character. Support your response with reference to your chosen text. (15)
In Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, Bill Furlong is the hero of the text. A key moment where we see the heroic nature of Bill is when he goes to the convent to save the young girl who is being abused by the nuns.
Bill first found the young girl called Sarah when he was delivering coal at Christmas at the convent. She was locked in the coal bunker and had been there for days, as she was surrounded by her own feces. When he took her to the convent door, he was told that the girl was ‘playing hide and seek’ by Mother Superior. Mother Superior also threatened Furlong by mentioning how hard it was to get into St. Margaret’s, hinting that if he did anything, his daughters would not get into the school. She also gave him £50, which was a bribe to keep quiet.
We discover that the young girl called Sarah is an unmarried mother and is being locked up in the convent as punishment. Her child has been taken off her and she is treated badly by the nuns. Furlong is drawn to the young girl because not only does she have the same name as his mother, but she is also in the same situation that Furlong’s mother found herself in when she was pregnant with him. Unlike Sarah, his mother was saved through the kindness of Mrs. Wilson.
On Christmas Eve, Furlong was warned by Mrs Keogh not to mess with the nuns as there would be serious consequences for him and his family. Despite all of this, Furlong marches to the convent, takes the young girl in his arms and walks through the town in the full view of passers by. He is not afraid of the church, he puts his own happiness and stability at risk in order to save the young girl. Bill is risking his marriage to Eileen, his girls’ education and his own business but he knows that doing the right thing is more important than putting himself first.
This is a truly heroic act because he carries out this act knowing that there will be serious consequences. His selfless and caring nature make him an extremely heroic character.