A Day in the Death of Joe Egg: Analysis of Major Characters
"A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" is a poignant exploration of familial relationships and the challenges faced by parents of a disabled child, particularly through the lens of its major characters. The central character, Bri, is a schoolteacher grappling with the emotional toll of raising his spastic daughter, Joe. He uses humor as a coping mechanism, yet his cynicism and jealousy create tension in his marriage to Sheila, who is portrayed as nurturing but burdened by guilt and weariness from years of caregiving. Joe, their daughter, is depicted as a physically beautiful child who suffers from severe disabilities, requiring constant care, which profoundly impacts her parents' lives.
Freddie, Bri's optimistic college friend, offers a contrasting perspective, advocating for rational solutions and expressing concern over Bri and Sheila's coping strategies. His wife, Pamela, embodies societal disdain for disability, approaching Joe with aversion rather than compassion. Meanwhile, Bri’s mother, Grace, provides a voice of traditional maternal expectations, often criticizing Sheila's role. This dynamic captures various responses to disability and parental anguish, making the play a complex commentary on love, loss, and the struggle for acceptance in the face of overwhelming challenges.
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Peter Nichols
First published: 1967
Genre: Play
Locale: A southwestern suburb of London
Plot: Black humor
Time: The mid-1960's
Brian (Bri), a thirty-three-year-old schoolteacher in Bristol, England. Bri is an adept comedian, jokester, and mimic who has found that humor is the only escape from or cure for the reality of living with a spastic child. He loves his wife, Sheila, and their daughter, Joe, but feels that circumstances (an unexpected pregnancy and ensuing medical malpractice) have thrown him into an untenable situation. He is moody, emotionally spontaneous, and deeply jealous of Joe for usurping Sheila's attention. An aspiring painter who has lost the creative drive and taken solace in drinking, he dislikes and is ineffective in his job as a schoolteacher. To him, God is a manic-depressive rugby player. Bri is very cynical and will not tolerate false hopes about Joe's condition. Although he propels the elaborate farce that he and Sheila enact to fulfill their life with Joe, he cannot understand why Joe must live, and finally he acts on his impulse to commit euthanasia.
Sheila, Bri's thirty-five-year-old wife. Sheila is an industrious and warm-hearted woman who loves living things; besides looking after Bri and Joe, she cares for a menagerie of pets and houseplants. A decade of hard work and frustrated motherhood have left her weary and somewhat humorless. She thinks carefully about human behavior and believes in psychology and the power of the subconscious. She harbors deep guilt about Joe's condition and feels that her earlier promiscuity and the fear of motherhood it gave her caused her to inhibit Joe's birth and thus damage the child. Although Sheila has no patience for Bri's self-pity, she plays along with his humor and farcical approach to their shared tragedy. In her heart, however, she resents his cynicism and clings to her faith, dreaming that she will someday see her daughter miraculously become a full human being.
Josephine (Joe), a ten-year-old spastic girl. Joe is a pretty child who looks physically normal but is spastic, epileptic, multiplegic, and almost totally incapable of willful human expression or activity. Her limbs are stiff, and she must be propped up; she is susceptible to illness and seizures; and her feeding, medication, and bodily functions require constant care and attention. At best, she looks about vacantly and moans feebly. She spends her days at a school for spastics.
Freddie Underwood, Bri's college friend, now an affluent industrialist, a socialist, and a director of amateur theater. Freddie is hearty and hale and seems older than his thirty-three years. Likable and good-spirited, he is eager to help Sheila and Bri. Freddie is a cautious rationalist who clings to law and order, however, and he considers Bri's and Sheila's play-acting with Joe to be an unhealthy and destructive response to the child's condition. He argues theoretically with Bri against euthanasia.
Pamela Underwood, Freddie's wife. Pamela is a postured and fashionable woman who is obsessed with propriety and appearances. She detests anything “N.P.A.” (not physically attractive) and therefore feels no compassion, merely disgust, for Joe, to whom she refers as the “weirdie.” Pamela is irritable and impatient and cannot fathom Freddie's desire to help Bri and Sheila. A basically self-centered woman, she devotes all of her attention, with great pride, to her husband and their three beautiful children.
Grace, Bri's mother, a sixty-five-year-old widow. Grace is a fastidious suburbanite who appreciates her routine and the small diversions that fill her life. She chatters freely and cheerfully but, like her son, is subject to moods of gloom and self-pity. She is proud of the sacrifices she made for her husband and son, and she considers Sheila to be inadequate as a wife for Bri and mother for Joe.