The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe

Psychopaths are never going to be one’s friend but will always remember who that one person is and how they can benefit from knowing that person. The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe is a novel about a delinquent boy who grows up in a small Irish town in the 1960’s. Twelve year old Francie Brady, the boy, has a father who abuses alcohol and his wife and a mother who is suicidal. Francie has a best friend name Joe who comes from a similar background allowing them to have lots in common including their interest in terrorizing their peers and town. The Butcher Boy is the making of a psychopath seen through Francie’s actions of revenge. Throughout the novel, Francie undergoes sexual abuse and delusion convincing him revenge is the fitting solution to his bottled anger. Francie seeks revenge by choking Joe, stabbing the priest and kills and butchers Mrs. Nugent. Although psychopaths cannot feel remorse, Francie is in the early stages of his killings and one will see him advance with each incident.

Francie runs off one day and when he comes back, he finds that his mother commit suicide and Joe, his best friend, tells Francie that it is because he ran away. Mrs. Nugent, a neighbor to the Brady’s, thinks she is superior to them. Her common comment to them is calling them “pigs”. Mrs. Nugent has a son, Phillip, who Francie and Joe taunt so they can steal his comic books however Joe gets upset when Francie resorts to a physical solution to get Phillip’s comic books: “You've got to swear by the blood of the Apache that you'll never go near him again!” (PAGE). Joe and Francie’s bond is quite close and Joe usually will put up with Francie’s shenanigans. Mrs. Nugent has a rich sophisticated family and because Francie does not, Mrs. Nugent tra...

... middle of paper ...

...use and shoots Mrs. Nugent with the butcher gun in the head. He chops her up and writes “PIG” in rooms upstairs with her insides. He puts her body in his cart and goes back to the butcher shop. The police catch up with him and he gives in to where he put Mrs. Nugent’s body. “When I was a young lad, 20 or 30 or 40 years ago, I lived in a small town, where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs. Nugent. If she hadn’t of poked her nose in between me and Joe everything would have been alright’.” (PAGE). Francie as an elder has no shame in what he did and he gloats as he tells his story to those who have the stomach for it. Francie Brady has no remorse and is beyond the mind of a sane human. Francie has been made into psychopath releasing his inner insanity. The Butcher Boy is a novel about the making of a psychopath through Francie’s actions of revenge.