Form and Content in "The Butcher Boy"
The novel is written entirely in the voice of Francie Brady, an orphaned teenager who gradually descends into madness after his mother's suicide. Here, in this novel, form certainly follows the shape of the content. Francie Brady's thoughts are put down on paper, together with his either imaginary or real actions and people's reactions to his mostly abnormal behavior.
Francie Brady's voice is that of a teenager from the 60s. But being a mentally-disturbed character, his discourse is often unreliable for the readers, he's often imagining things, like the scene when he breaks into the Nugents' house and pictures him and the whole Nugent family there while he is teaching the how to become pigs (he imagines himself to be conducting a school for pigs). At first, we may be inclined to believe that things happened exactly like he is telling us, but then Francie mentions the real appearance of the Nugents and their real reactions. Yet we could still say that even in the cases of his delirious episodes, the form is still in harmony with the content of the novel, since we are placed in the head of this very much disturbed teenage boy. It is very interesting how the author manages to sustain this voice all throughout the novel, and how we are giving clues to what is going to happen from the very beginning of the boy's discourse. Also, the fact that the dialog is rendered by only one character makes the story very appealing as well as the way his thoughts mix with what actually happens. But everything is masterly controlled by the author, the character always mentioning to the readers for instance, after having expressed himself in some rude words or having uttered some insane statement, that he hadn't actually said that, those were only his thoughts.
There are many repetitive, obsessive images and statements that show us how the character is slowly but surely going mad. Like his obsession with his childhood "blood-brother" Joe Purcell, and his continuous pursuit of this lost friendship throughout the book, and this actually determines all of his often weird or insane actions.
As Eagleton states in "Form and Content", "Forms are historically determined by the kind of 'content' they have to embody; they are changed, transformed, broken down and revolutionized as that content itself changes." This is obviously applicable for "The Butcher Boy"; the way in which the novel is written somehow reminds us of the V.O. in the movies; also, all the episodes described in the novel are very visual and vivid, and the reader may have the impression of watching a film. Thus, the very form of the classic novel is transformed and revolutionized.
In his piece, Eagleton makes references to the Hungarian Marxist critic Lukcs. He states that in Lukcs's perception it is the forms that become the genuine bearers of ideology in art rather than the content of the work itself. It may be said that in the case of "The Butcher Boy", forms certainly shape the meanings of the novel, they intermingle. It is not necessarily that McCabe has an ideology in mind to transmit to his readers, but rather making them even feel sympathy towards the sociopath killer the boy eventually turns into. Lukcs also speaks of "a shifting of interest from the romantic and supernatural to individual psychology and routine experience". Indeed, we are given plenty of details of some day-to-day activities and there is a great emphasis on individual psychology; we can follow the character's inner thoughts and motivation, understanding how he is shaped by circumstances and how his mental status changes and evolves into insanity, making connections between his personal life events and the way his brain reacts to them. We certainly have here what Lukcs referred to as the "concept of consistent, life-like character".
Following Hegel, Lukcs envisions the novel as "an epic which unlike its classical counterpart reveals the homelessness and alienation of man in modern society." Indeed, we can find these elements in McCabe's piece of work. Francie Brady is marked by his estrangement to society and its rules, he is haunted by the image of his own home and its emptiness after the death of his parents, and which has fallen into decay. It is this sense of homelessness and lack of belonging that motivates him and his cruel gestures.
