Inevitable change In the novel About a Boy, the author focuses on two main characters that are very different from each other. From the beginning of the novel it is very easy to tell that there are some issues with each character. There is a 12 year old boy, Marcus, who seemed to be close with his mom, but also deals with bullies at school. Then there is Will, a middle aged, and single, non-working man. Instantly, Will is portrayed as someone who doesn’t like kids and who struggles with relationships with friends as well as girlfriends. Within the novel these two characters cross paths and a change develops in Marcus as well as Will.
Being the only child of a single mother, Marcus faces problems within himself as well as with friends. His beliefs and actions are that of his mothers. The narrator points out “Marcus knew he was weird, and he knew that part of the reason he was weird was because his mum was weird” (Hornby 15). His mother doesn’t let him do anything a normal kid would and Marcus believes everything his mother says because there is just no arguing with her. He thought he had two friends but because Marcus was so different and got bullied for it they told him “We never got in any trouble with anyone before we knew you, and now we get this every day” (Hornby 33) and ditched him. Even though he is a smart boy, he doesn’t have another close person to look up to and only knows what his mom tells him. Will, on the other hand, deals with very opposite issues. He lives on his own and has a lot of money because of an inheritance. He has friends and when they ask him to be Imogen’s godfather he makes it very clear he isn’t interested in kids when he says “Listen, I’m touched that you asked. But I can’t think of anything worse. Seriously. It’s just not my sort of thing” (Hornby 11). However, the issue he faces is the idea he develops that single mothers are the type of women he should go after and that would go after him. Despite the fact that he dislikes children, he joins SPAT and makes up an imaginary two-year old son. This definitely shows how messed up Wills mind is and how far his lying abilities go just to get women. Their transformation is a struggle and change gradually takes place. For Marcus, his main difficulties lie in school and friends. Will tries to help Marcus fit in at school by buying him new Adidas, but that backfires when his shoes get stolen from the bullies at school. It’s only obvious what Will’s key problem is, lying to women about having a son. Will thinks that if he tells women he has a son it will make him more interesting, which it does but he really just needs to be truthful. When he met Rachel, he mentions, “…I have this weird relationship with a twelve-year-old boy. Is that any good to you,” (Hornby 194). He wasn’t completely honest with Rachel and goes on to make her think that Marcus is his son without saying so. These were just a couple hardships they went through only to learn and help them grow.
Even though those events didn’t go as planned, we still see some sort of progress with each character. Will seems to have developed different feelings about kids, Marcus in particular. It is evident when the narrator says, “Will had never given Marcus credit for being a good kid – up until now he’d only noticed his eccentric, troublesome side, probably because there hadn’t been much else to notice. But he was good, Will could see that now” (Hornby 180-181). Will begins to see Marcus differently and understands his way of thinking, which will bring them closer. From that point on their relationship and characters change for the better. Will sees the true potential in Marcus and continues to hang out with him. Will’s biggest change took place with Rachel when she found out the real truth about him and Marcus. Even though it was mostly a lie, meeting Marcus changed Will, and Rachel saw that when she said, “Because there is something there. You didn’t make it all up about Marcus. You’re involved, and you care, and you understand him, and you worry about him… So you’re not the guy I thought you were before you brought him up” (Hornby 234). The drop ins by Marcus had an effect on Will and changed his view on kids. Will is a better person now because he actually cares for someone other than himself. This in turn made him more attractive to Rachel, and he no longer has to make up lies about having a son because in reality he basically has a son, Marcus.
Marcus’ main change occurs at the end of the book. This little boy, who had followed in his moms shadow for so long, finally comes out and speaks his own mind towards his father. Marcus says to him, “I suppose you are a useless father, and that doesn’t help a kid very much, but you’d have been a useless father wherever you were living, so I don’t see what difference it makes” (Hornby 281). With being around Will so much he got an idea of what it would have been like to have a father around or at least that manly figure to learn and look up to. Marcus is no longer afraid to express his own mind and what should be. It is evident that he has become his own person and wants to be heard.
Meeting new people happens all the time, but what is not seen is how much it can change someone. Will and Marcus changed and learned a lot because of each other. Marcus learned about music, how to be normal and to have a mind of his own. Will learned that it’s not good to lie and that what made him interesting was the fact that he knew Marcus and had some sort of relationship with him even though he didn’t see it at first. Marcus and Will are still different from each other but because Marcus needs a male figure to look up to and Will needs a kid to be more interesting and understand, they have created a balance.