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Lisa
Bill is Monk’s brother. He lives in Arizona and works as a plastic surgeon. In the novel’s present, Bill is in the middle of a messy divorce, the consequence of his wife finding out that he is gay (though according to Monk, “we all knew he was gay”). As a result of the emotional and financial strain of the divorce—and Bill’s new freedom to openly explore his identity as a gay man for the first time in his life—Bill is unable to contribute much to Mother’s care, leaving Monk to handle things on his own. Monk harbors resentment toward Bill for his failure to step up, though his bitterness ultimately seems to stem from his jealousy over Bill’s ability to be honest about who he truly is and his bravery to present his true self to the world.
Bill Quotes in Erasure
The Erasure quotes below are all either spoken by Bill or refer to Bill. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
“I want you to meet him.” And suddenly Bill’s voice was different, but it was more than just the sound of a man in love. His pronunciation changed. It was not quite that he developed a stereotypical lisp, but it was close.
“Why are you talking like that?”
His voice went back to normal. “Like what?”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8
Quotes
The letter was unsigned. That was all that was in the box. I had read a voice of my father’s that I had not heard directly in life, a tender voice, an open voice. I couldn’t imagine the man who had run off to New York to have an affair. I knew my mother had read the letters, but I didn’t know when. I knew she wanted me to read the letters. Knowledge of the affair gave me, oddly, more compassion for my father, more interest in him. Even when I considered my mother and her feelings I did not find myself angry with him, though I worried about her pain.
Chapter 9
Quotes
I hung up and stared at the phone on my desk. It was black and heavy and had been used by my father and sometimes I imagined I could still hear his deep voice humming through the wires. Bill sounded so remarkably sad, so lost. When we were kids I had often felt, however vaguely, his sadness, but this hopelessness, if it was in fact that, this lostness, misplacedness, was new and not easy to take.
Chapter 11
Quotes
Enemies always understand each other better than friends.
Get the entire Erasure LitChart as a printable PDF.
Bill Quotes in Erasure
The Erasure quotes below are all either spoken by Bill or refer to Bill. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
“I want you to meet him.” And suddenly Bill’s voice was different, but it was more than just the sound of a man in love. His pronunciation changed. It was not quite that he developed a stereotypical lisp, but it was close.
“Why are you talking like that?”
His voice went back to normal. “Like what?”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8
Quotes
The letter was unsigned. That was all that was in the box. I had read a voice of my father’s that I had not heard directly in life, a tender voice, an open voice. I couldn’t imagine the man who had run off to New York to have an affair. I knew my mother had read the letters, but I didn’t know when. I knew she wanted me to read the letters. Knowledge of the affair gave me, oddly, more compassion for my father, more interest in him. Even when I considered my mother and her feelings I did not find myself angry with him, though I worried about her pain.
Chapter 9
Quotes
I hung up and stared at the phone on my desk. It was black and heavy and had been used by my father and sometimes I imagined I could still hear his deep voice humming through the wires. Bill sounded so remarkably sad, so lost. When we were kids I had often felt, however vaguely, his sadness, but this hopelessness, if it was in fact that, this lostness, misplacedness, was new and not easy to take.
Chapter 11
Quotes
Enemies always understand each other better than friends.
