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Tom
Margaret is Anthony’s sister, Ian’s wife, and Tom and Hannah’s mother. Margaret is the only adult in Anthony’s family who’s firmly on his side: whereas Anthony describes their mother and his wife, Marie, as judgmental and controlling, he thinks of Margaret as “loyal” and warm. He knows that only Margaret will defend him against his mother’s snide remarks when he leaves the room, which is a testament to how strong their sibling bond is despite rarely seeing each other outside of holidays. But Anthony also feels guilty about the fact that Margaret and Ian are in “dire financial straits,” whereas he and Marie are well-off and can seemingly afford anything they want. During the Christmas party, Anthony notices that Margaret and Ian look happy and in love—a stark contrast to his and Marie’s own miserable relationship. In this way, Margaret’s character represents the idea that money doesn’t necessarily give people happiness or fulfillment, as her and Ian’s marriage seems much more rewarding than Anthony and Marie’s despite their financial difficulties.
Margaret Quotes in Static
The Static quotes below are all either spoken by Margaret or refer to Margaret. 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:
).
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Quotes
Anthony stands tilting the camera a few millimetres back and forth, mesmerised, as the group arranges itself before him. The pixellated image oscillates, scanning and reading the shifts of light and shade. One moment he sees his sister, overweight and worn and dowdy in her Target outfit, frumpy beside the immaculate blonde Marie, who outshines them all. The next he sees Margaret, kind and comfortable, touching Ian’s arm and smiling warmly, with Marie pale and cold and stick-thin, face grimaced into a close-mouthed rictus. Back and forth the shimmering image goes; how she sees them and how they see her, this life and that life, with Anthony in the middle, trying to hold the camera steady and depress the button for autofocus at the same moment.
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How to broach it with Margaret, how to offer? Tell her he never uses the one in the bedroom? Yeah, tell her it’s been sitting in the guest bedroom gathering dust, be great if she could take it off his hands. A loan. As long as they’d like it. His fault for buying the gadget. Anthony has to squeeze his hands together between his knees to stop himself grabbing Tom and hugging him as hard as he can. A thin boy. Too troubled for a ten-year-old. Reading out those stupid knock-knock jokes at the table, trying his best to do just what's expected of him, to decipher all those signals and stand in the firing line of all those deadly rays.
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Get the entire Static LitChart as a printable PDF.
Margaret Quotes in Static
The Static quotes below are all either spoken by Margaret or refer to Margaret. 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:
).
Static
Quotes
Anthony stands tilting the camera a few millimetres back and forth, mesmerised, as the group arranges itself before him. The pixellated image oscillates, scanning and reading the shifts of light and shade. One moment he sees his sister, overweight and worn and dowdy in her Target outfit, frumpy beside the immaculate blonde Marie, who outshines them all. The next he sees Margaret, kind and comfortable, touching Ian’s arm and smiling warmly, with Marie pale and cold and stick-thin, face grimaced into a close-mouthed rictus. Back and forth the shimmering image goes; how she sees them and how they see her, this life and that life, with Anthony in the middle, trying to hold the camera steady and depress the button for autofocus at the same moment.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
How to broach it with Margaret, how to offer? Tell her he never uses the one in the bedroom? Yeah, tell her it’s been sitting in the guest bedroom gathering dust, be great if she could take it off his hands. A loan. As long as they’d like it. His fault for buying the gadget. Anthony has to squeeze his hands together between his knees to stop himself grabbing Tom and hugging him as hard as he can. A thin boy. Too troubled for a ten-year-old. Reading out those stupid knock-knock jokes at the table, trying his best to do just what's expected of him, to decipher all those signals and stand in the firing line of all those deadly rays.
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