A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

While he described himself as taking „a lot of interest in sexual things, you know... I‟m very
much interested in that line‟ (l.3:131), Kevin does not believe that any woman would be
interested in him:
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I could never bring her back here... personally I don‟t think anyone would be
interested... basically cos of where I live... you know, if I was to go out with a girl
obviously I‟d get myself spick and span... do all the things necessary... but I couldn‟t
bring her back here... because it‟s just me I don‟t care how filthy I get... how filthy
things get... you know... (l.3:130ff.)
In spite of the way in which it could be considered that Kevin has isolated himself, his
appreciation of companionship was expressed while talking of his fondness for Gizmo:
...just to see him doing what he‟s doing now... scratching the cardboard... that‟s what
I call company... it‟s nice... otherwise, if it wasn‟t that what would there be...
silence... (l.3:65ff.)
He spoke about the way in which Gizmo keeps him alert to anyone passing the cottage:
I know when this person walks along the road past the house cos he has a little
woof... and I stand by the window and say there he goes... there he goes... and he
gets all excited... (l.3:13ff.)
In considering Kevin standing at his window, watching as the occasional stranger passes by,
we can see another example of the disabled role being played out. In this situation, the
disabled role is not being actively imposed, for it does not need to be.
Kevin had the disabled role imposed on him early in life at the residential school he was sent
to. Until this happened he had been a sensitive, shy, intelligent, asthmatic boy who had been
doing well at his lessons. At residential school in the middle of rural Surrey he missed out on
gaining the ordinary emotional experiences and skills necessary to become a competent
social performer, comfortable around other people and in his own skin.
Removed from the social mainstream, he describes his experience of adolescence as „insular‟
(l.3:674), characterised by minor sexual abuse from other boys (l.3:604ff.), lack of formal
education (l.3:636), poor adult guidance (l.3:670ff.); nicking Action Man figures from
Woolworth‟s on weekend visits to Guildford (l.3:519); and acute embarrassment in the
company of girls (l.3:544). By the time he was re-admitted to the mainstream on leaving
school he was ill prepared for adulthood. Little was expected of him.