Hopelessness and Apathy Theme Analysis

Throughout “Sleepers,” Ray is portrayed as lethargic and apathetic, watching lazily from the sidelines as he observes other characters take initiative to improve their lives. Although he is only employed part-time, Ray does not look for other work. He also acknowledges his poor health, recognizing that he should see a doctor and cut back on drinking, yet drinks to excess, anyway, to the point that he falls asleep in his truck. When he goes to Steve’s party and considers socializing, he decides it is too difficult and chooses to just sit by himself and eat. Throughout the story, Ray’s resignation and acceptance of his circumstances and personal weaknesses traps him, further discouraging him from trying to make any positive changes. Through Ray’s actions and inner monologue, Kennedy suggests that hopelessness and apathy are self-perpetuating and self-fulfilling.

Ray is apathetic when other characters propose activities and encourage him to improve his life. When they were still together, Ray’s now-ex-girlfriend, Sharon, would badger Ray to landscape their garden, presumably to make their rented house feel more like home. However, he would always reject the idea because he saw no point in putting any effort in while they were “just renting.” Sharon walked away in frustration during one particular argument about landscaping, but Ray was only capable of “standing there, stranded,” emphasizing that he is paralyzed by his apathy. Not only does Ray have no interest in putting effort into the garden, he also puts no effort into their relationship. Sharon eventually breaks up with him, tired of being the only one who has “tried” to make things work while Ray would only wait to see “what she was going to want next.” In the present, Ray reacts with indifference when Bernie encourages him to join the many locals who have begun to steal discarded sleepers, wooden beams from the construction site at the railroad tracks in town. Although he learns of successful thefts, receives advice from Bernie, and knows the wood will be useful for landscaping or firewood, Ray expresses no desire to take a few sleepers for himself. With this characteristic indifference, Ray watches on as other people spruce up their gardens with stolen sleepers.

Much of Ray’s apathy manifests as deferral and procrastination, as he always waits for better circumstances to occur instead of taking action to make his circumstances better. Toward the beginning of the story, Ray experiences a flashback to sitting in traffic with Sharon in the passenger seat. Her “mouth [was in] a sour twist,” and she was “Having a dig at him” with her condescension towards construction workers. Even though Ray’s flashback suggests that he was unhappy in the relationship, he did nothing about it at the time. Instead, as he looked at Sharon, “Something creep[ed] over him like a slow anaesthetic,” suggesting that the relationship was becoming toxic and he was simply letting it happen. Ray’s reluctance to landscape the garden despite Sharon’s repeated requests also indicates his tendency to defer tasks and find excuses. By not wanting to put any effort into a home they are “just renting,” Ray implies he will only do so once they own a home, but this aspiration unlikely to come to fruition while he is only working a part-time job.

In the present, Ray chooses to keep eating and drinking at Steve’s barbecue despite experiencing worrying physical symptoms that warn him to improve his lifestyle, such as a squeezing feeling in his chest that could potentially indicate a heart problem or unhealthy levels of stress and anxiety. He resolves to make a doctor’s appointment yet decides he can “ring tomorrow” while indulging in the meantime. However, Ray seems unlikely to follow through on his resolution and very well might say the same thing to himself over and over, perpetually postponing the doctor’s appointment.

Having let his situation deteriorate this far, Ray feels hopeless and uses his depressing circumstances to further justify not taking action, ending up trapped. Even though he is still not over Sharon and wants to “let word get back to [her] that he was out there, available,” Ray hovers around the fringes at Steve’s barbecue and does not strike up conversation with any of the women there. He remarks to himself that they “knew all about him anyway”—that he is not a desirable romantic partner because of his employment and housing status—so he does not even try to make connections with any of them. He also thinks to himself that it is “probably all for the best” that is not on the path to raising children, since he feels too old and unhealthy to do so. He attempts to act as a parental figure for Sean, Steve’s son, suggesting that he still wants to be a father, but in the end accepts his inability to be one.

Ray’s apathy paralyzes him in any situation where he finds himself faced with a challenge, leading him to wait for things to go from “shit to good” when they are unlikely to do so without effort on his part. Once his poor situation solidifies, he resigns himself to remaining there and makes no acts of protest or rebellion until he decides to steal some sleepers in order to make a garden of his own. When he is caught in the act, he does not run and views it as a confirmation of his inability to rise above his circumstances. Like Ray, the town itself seems incapable of resisting a bad situation happening to it, in the form of the construction project “they all had [forgotten about]” that disrupts traffic without providing jobs. Even the residents’ collective effort to steal sleepers has virtually no impact on the project’s momentum, and it seems improbable that things will ultimately improve for the town.