Mickey

• working class man


  He is a likable, sympathetic character to challenge the audience's perceptions of the working class. He sings about his admiration for his troubled older brother, depicting the consequences of the absence of a good male role model in a boy’s life. When Mickey meets Edward, he shows the influence of his upbringing (nurture) on his character. He teaches Edward to swear words, he is surprised by Edward’s generosity, his warm and honest nature attracts Edward’s friendship
• happy and shy to depressed and angry

  Initially, he is shown as shy; he needs Linda and Edward to encourage his confidence. Mickey is portrayed as a typical carefree teenager but is threatened by the police and suspended from school for being rude, suggesting a lack of support as a child. His confidence decreases as he grows up, whereas Edward’s confidence grows. In Act II, Edward leaves for university and Mickey loses his job in the factory; this can be seen as the turning point in Mickey’s development
• desire to be a good man

  His inability to do so leads to his decline: his redundancy leads to crime, arrest and depression, connecting poverty with crime. The support he is offered from authorities comes in the form of addictive pills; his low esteem leaves him unable to cope
• jealousy to rage when he loses linda

  Before his death, he is angry with his mother for keeping him and denying him the opportunities Edward had: “I could have been him!”