Linda

English Lit: AQA GCSE Blood Brothers, topic 3.3.1

Linda: Kindness and Confidence

Russell presents Linda as a kind and compassionate character. She often supports Mickey. She is also portrayed as more confident than Mickey.

Linda is mostly presented as a kind and compassionate character.
Even as a seven year old, she stands up for Mickey when Sammy and the other children are taunting and teasing him. This shows she has a strong sense of loyalty to her friends:
- “Leave him alone!” (Act One).
As teenagers, Linda again shows her loyalty as a friend when she defends Mickey in an argument with their teacher, resulting in both Mickey and Linda getting suspended:
“Oh, leave him alone you. Y’ big worm!” (Act Two).

Later on in life, Linda continues to be supportive of Mickey when he is imprisoned and develops a drug addiction, proving that she is willing to stand by him and keep working hard to give them a settled family life.

In her youth, Linda is loud and funny.
While Mickey is unable to pluck up the courage to tell Linda how he really feels about her, she confidently and openly professes her love for him:
“I don’t care who knows. I just love you. I love you!” (Act Two).

There are also several occasions where Linda shows she is not afraid of getting into trouble, often leading Mickey and Edward in their games as children.
At one point she shows her confidence by tricking a policeman so that the trio can escape:
“Oh my god, look…” (Act Two).

Like Mickey, Linda comes from a working class background. This limits her opportunities.

Linda comes from a similar working class background to Mickey and they have been friends since before Mickey meets Edward.

Russell uses dialect and abbreviation to show how Linda talks, and her patterns of speech are very similar to Mickey’s.
This reveals that she is from the same background as he is:
“An’ listen, Mickey, if y’ dead, there’s no school, is there?” (Act One).

Ultimately, because of her class, Linda finds herself trapped in the same cycle of poverty that Mrs. Johnstone has been stuck in for her whole life.
Poorly educated and with few prospects, Linda seems doomed to end up unhappy.
The Narrator even appears at one point to remind the audience that Linda’s pregnancy and marriage are doomed to end badly:
“Narrator: … the bogey man was seen around the town” (Act Two).