June and Billy

The novel “Getting Mother’s Body”, centers on the story of Billy Beede and the struggles she goes through due to her past and present choices. June was a very interesting character. She played a small role in the novel but influenced how other characters were perceived. Her relationship with Billy is overlooked and the impact that she makes on her is not really discussed. June is Billy’s opposite in many ways and her actions highlight Billy’s key personality traits.  

          Right at the beginning of the novel Billy is already in a position that June would never be in. Billy is pregnant. Teddy says to himself when Dill brings up the fact that he and June have no children “If I could give June children I would. If June could give me children she would” (Parks 22). Therefore one of them or possibly both of them are infertile but want kids. Billy is just a sixteen year old who had sex with a guy she thought was attractive and now hates her potential offspring. June at one point even offers to take the child and raise it but Billy tells her no. This offers the first parallel between June and Billy. It is a physical barrier that separates them as women. June has lost a part of herself and because of it makes Billy more whole as a character. She makes Billy more selfish and bratty as she continues to give of herself even though she is crippled in more than one way.

Throughout the novel June takes a passive role. She is so passive that I actually couldn’t tell she was older than Billy until Teddy mentions that they are married. Because of this passive role most of June’s character development comes from personal thoughts. June is quiet about her wants. She was actually for stealing Willa Mae’s treasure. June tells Dill and Teddy that she wants “just enough to get me a leg” (Park 24). So in a way, June has selfish reasons for seeking the treasure, but because of the context of the time period her desire is seen as less selfish than Billy’s. Billy wants the treasure so she can get an illegal abortion which was very taboo at the time. This again parallels the two characters. June wants to gain a part of herself again and Billy wants to rid herself of something. A less serious example of this is June’s hair. Billy only pressed half of June’s hair so that “the other side’s still wild” (Park 19). This was the first time June’s voice was introduced. She shows that she is willing to roll over and take whatever other people give her.

Billy is seen as “hot and wild” (Park 184). Her actions are calculated to her but the results make her seem unpredictable. Like when she got her wedding dress. She had $63 and was expected to buy a dress, shoes, and a bus ticket. And she succeeded because she knows how to manipulate people and does not just give up. Billy is aware that life is going to be difficult. She was exposed to the hardest type of lifestyle that a child can be exposed to. Her mother gave her an unstable upbringing in which she not only learned how to manipulate but was manipulated. June was abandoned. Her family was obviously poor since they were traveling cramped in a “beat-up Ford truck” (Park 132) to California. June’s father struck a deal with Teddy and the next day June was married to the young preacher and her family was long gone. After being crippled June understands that she is a burden on others. So she tries to help where she can. She raises Billy and works at the gas station with Teddy whereas Billy quit school and her job as a hairdresser. Again June amplifies Billy’s enduring personality but also her almost lazy nature.

June is more prone to giving up and looking to the negative side of things than Billy is. When Teddy and Homer are arrested the deputy offers Billy and June sandwiches and a bed to sleep in. Billy immediately shrugs off the officer and seems like she would love to tell him to go to hell. June “can only make [her] voice so hard” (Park 171).  Here June admits that she is jealous of Billy’s ability to be cold to people she does not like. Billy is not willing to give into men easily. She uses men for what she needs the way her mother did. June does what men tell her to do. She almost takes the sandwich and Billy even says for her to take the bed. Billy knows June can only take so much but June is determined to prove her wrong. Even though June is copying Billy’s actions she is still highlighting another trait of Billy. Her leadership skills are well developed. Billy is headstrong and a great leader. Everyone follows her ring plan without question and she is the one who decides to finally dig up Willa Mae. June had only proposed the idea but never went through with it. Billy only does these things because she is trying to create a better future for herself. Despite Billy’s past she has an optimistic view on life. She always thinks things are going to go better than they do. Whereas June often predicts the worst and never hopes for the best. Whenever a situation reminds her of when her leg got cut off she knows something bad is bound to occur. In this way June serves to make Billy likeable. Before this point I only saw Billy as a spoiled teen who used her tragic past as a crutch to act out. Now she is a young adult who is using her past knowledge to make decisions that work for her and her family. June is the one who becomes needy at the end of the novel and has to rely on Billy’s skills.

In some ways June is Billy’s foil. She amplifies Billy’s strongest qualities such as her will to keep going, optimism in the face of tragedy, and luck. Billy does the same for June but not only shows her stability in spite of her past but also her need to rely on handouts.  

 

Suzan-Lori Parks, Getting Mother's Body. New York: Random House, 2004.