Joshua Biship
James Mense
English 102
05 October 2014
Billy Ansel: Dark or Light?
In the book, The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks a story is told of tragedy that strikes a small town. Banks tells this story through multiple character each of which brings their own understand and view of the accident. Billy Ansel was one of the characters used to convey his message. Billy is a parent of two children in the town of Sam Dent. Billy is a veteran, business owner, and widower. All of these moving parts have played huge roles in shaping the character that Billy portrays but nothing could prepare him for losing his children. At the beginning of the story Billy is shown as a person to look up to and rely upon in hard times. But there is another side to Billy that is explored in the latter half of the book. Through the revelation of more detail Billy’s character is better-rounded and with that rounding he also slips into a darker side of himself. This side which is far darker and hidden from the public is brought to the surface when Billy losses his children and changes forever.
Billy first appears in the story as a father who was raising his twin children on his own after his wife passed away from cancer. He is waiting in the kitchen for the bus to arrive like he does every morning. Dolores Driscoll is the school bus driver picking up Billy’s children. Dolores is fond of Billy and gives us a view into who she thinks he is. “I always liked stopping at Billy’s. For one thing, he used me as an alarm clock, not leaving for work until I arrived to pick up his children, Jessica and Mason, nine year old twins.”(26) This initial view of Billy portrays him as a loving father and a reliable man to the people of the town. But this is only part of the good side that is Billy and is expanded further in Dolores’s account.
After his twins are picked up Billy begins to head to