Behind: Normal People by Sally Rooney
Written by Kayla Berigan
Sally Rooney’s Normal People, a novel published in 2018, displays aspects of love, societal pressures and growth. Described as ‘the literary phenomenon of the decade’ by The Guardian and winner of the An Post Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, Normal People will leave you distraught and looking for more before you turn the last page. Irish writer Sally Rooney uses a unique writing style that allows the book to flow effortlessly, the lack of speech marks throughout the book enables the reader to feel the story so deeply without interruption or pauses in the conversations. The novel follows the stories of 18-year-old Connell Waldron and Marianne Sheridan, who are navigating their relationship before and after leaving secondary school.
The novel begins with Marianne opening her front door to her classmate Connell who has arrived to collect his mam, the cleaner in Marianne’s home in Carricklea, Co. Sligo. Quickly we see that Connell is uncomfortable being in the home; after their brief conversation he asks his mam, “can we go?” We learn that they are not exactly friends in the five minutes they are left alone. Connell’s hands are firmly planted in his jeans, “as if trying to store his entire body in his pockets.” During the interaction, we learn that no one knows about the relationship between the two teenagers, since Connell is known as the popular boy in school, while Marianne is considered a loner. Connell confesses that he “dreads being alone with her […] but he also finds himself fantasising about things he could say to impress her “, therefore showcasing how conflicted he is about his feelings toward Marianne. As the conversation drags on, we see Marianne ask him about their teacher, Ms. Neary, who seems to be involved in the rumours surrounding Connell in school. He confesses to Marianne that he is uncomfortable with the way Ms. Neary acts around him, something he is afraid to tell anyone else in fear that they might treat him differently or “think he’s trying to brag about it.” This displays the dynamic of the relationship between them; while not romantic yet, they share moments of emotional intimacy that they cannot find with anyone else. Connell puts all his trust in Marianne because he knows that “he could tell her anything about himself […] and she would never repeat them”, this tells us that the only time we will see Connell truly be himself throughout the novel, is when he is alone with Marianne because he thinks that due to her lack of friends she won’t tell anyone and therefore his social status will be safe, but in reality she keeps Connell’s secrets because she does not care about where she lands on the school social chart but rather ignoring it completely.
The trust they build over time quickly turns into a love filled relationship that Connell is determined to keep a secret from everyone because of Marianne’s reputation as the girl “they’re not allowed to see.” Eventually Connell invites Marianne around to his house, before she walks in she catches him looking over her shoulder “to make sure that no one has seen her arrive.” By asking her over, Connell puts himself in a risky position, if he is caught, he believes that he will be abandoned by his friends for simply finding her interesting enough to be around. Their relationship grows from just physical attraction, into a complicated mess of secrets and desires. During a fundraiser in the local club Marianne’s newfound ‘friend’, Karen, remarks that “he’s (Connell) been watching you (Marianne) the whole time.” This is where we see the mask starting to slip on the relationship, Connell’s feelings are becoming too intense to hide and Marianne is trying to ignore it so as to not get him into bother with his friends. After an altercation with a man Marianne ends up hurt and leaves the club, Karen runs out after her followed by her friends Eric and Rachel and quick on their heels is Connell. He offers her a lift home, which she accepts, but they end up going to Connell’s first. This is where we find out that Marianne is no stranger to men being violent towards her, she confesses to Connell that her dad used to abuse her as a child up until his death. This is where Marianne's cold side comes from as she learned to detach because her mother “decided a long time ago that it is acceptable for men to use aggression […] as a way of expressing themselves.”
Connell and Marianne both end up moving away from Sligo and studying in Trinity College, Dublin. Connell finds moving up to Dublin a lonely experience because he is separated from all his friends who stayed in Sligo, meanwhile Marianne has changed her life for the better. At a party that Connell is invited to, he finds out that his classmate is seeing Marianne and when they go outside to talk to her, she is surrounded by people who are easily recognised as her friends. This shocks Connel as the Marianne he used to know has completely changed. Marianne's deep feelings about politics, literature and sex, once uncool, is now admired by her peers, meanwhile Connell struggles to find his place in Trinity.
The novel follows the hardships and the success of both characters as they navigate their way through adult and college life. Towards the end you see both characters fight to find each other in every aspect of their life, even when they think they don’t need help. Marianne and Connell soon realize that “they’ve been like two little plants […], growing around one another, contorting to make room.” Normal People, a novel about teenagers, displays the challenges placed on people by society, which prohibits them from loving freely or growing. The story showcases how both characters change to fit into each other’s life, while also trying to navigate their own.