Aahana Swrup
‘The Whale’ finds its protagonist alone and on death’s door from the story’s beginning. Recent hardships in Charlie’s life have drowned him in grief, leaving him reliant upon unhealthy coping mechanisms that lead to medically critical obesity. As a result, the loner online teacher hides away in his house with his only friend, Liz, occasionally keeping him company. Even so, despite his past, the man has multiple people in his past who were once his family: Mary, his ex-wife, and Ellie, his teenage daughter, whom he hasn’t spoken to in months. Consequently, Charlie decides to seek closure in his final days by mending his relationship with his daughter. Thus, after witnessing the daughter’s venomous behavior toward the man, one can’t help but grow naturally intrigued by the events that broke Charlie’s family apart so spectacularly in the first place. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Charlie Left His Marriage For Love
Charlie had been married to Mary for years. The pair had a daughter, Ellie, whom they raised together as a married couple for eight years. However, shortly after, Charlie encountered someone who changed his life forever. As an English teacher, he taught the school’s night classes attended by unconventional students. During this time, his paths crossed with Alan, a younger–but not by much—man. The two felt a pull toward each other and soon realized they couldn’t go back to their normal lives.
Alan came from a hyper-religious family and even did some missionary work at his father’s insistence. His father had chosen a bride for him to marry, and Charlie had a family he needed to be a part of. Nonetheless, after experiencing the love they had for each other, neither man could return to their old lives, closeted as heterosexual men. Thus, the pair abandoned their old lives for a new one to nurture the love they felt for one another. For the same reason, once Charlie accepted his identity as a gay man, he left Mary. For him, it was a chance to live out life as his authentic self without any charades involved in love. Yet, it left behind an ugly wound on the one person who was most affected by his abandonment: Ellie.
Ellie Grew Bitter Due to Charlie’s Abandonment
From the get-go, Ellie establishes herself as an unkind character. From insulting Charlie and throwing out slurs to constantly seeking out the misery of others, the teenager remains the perfect picture of brash apathy. She gets suspended from school for harassing her classmates, and she routinely posts hateful or disturbing images on her social media profiles. In fact, her behavior is so concerning that even her own mother considers the kid “evil.” Then again, as an alcoholic mother who pockets the money Charlie sends for Ellie, Mary doesn’t hold much credibility within the field of morality.
Therein lies the crux of Ellie’s spiteful personality. The kid grew up in an unhappy household where her parents would argue even when they were together. Afterward, her father walked out on her and her mother, instilling a sense of worthlessness in her from a young age. After all, to an eight-year-old Ellie, the act of Charlie giving up his old family for Alan seems like a straightforward transaction. It conveys to her that Alan is something worthwhile, whereas she isn’t someone that even her father would stick around for. In turn, this evolved into a deep-seated belief that people, at their core, were bad.
Mary’s lousy parenting, wherein she was more interested in playing the blame game than seeking help for her daughter, further damaged Ellie’s upbringing. For the same reason, the girl has grown up to be unflinchingly unkind. She revels in making others miserable to deal with her own misery. Particularly in Charlie’s case, she has a personal grievance with him and wants to inflict the same hurt on him that he inflicted on her when he left her alone. While this remains a cornerstone of her character, her tumultuous relationship with Charlie leads to some revelations that deepen her scope for redemption. Although she never quite makes up for her mean disposition, she showcases a promise for betterment by fulfilling her father’s dying wish in the end.
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