Blood Brothers: Mickey By Katie Hill

Who is Mickey? Within the first act of the play 'Blood Brothers' Mickey is depicted as a friendly and excitable boy. Mickey looks up to his older brother Sammy and often seeks approval from him. He feels he needs to impress Sammy and finds it very hard to say no to him. This is a key factor as to why Mikey is imprisoned later on in the play. He is not very forward with his emotions. It took him years to pluck up the courage to ask Linda out and he barely tells her he loves throughout the play. He tries to prove himself to her by working hard but he is made redundant which leads to further withdrawal from his emotions. He is not very well educated, he was suspended from school. He expressed a lot more interest in getting a job and earning his own money. He likes Edward’s generosity and Mickey enjoys being able to show him new things. Edward gives Mickey a chance to shine and be a leader and escape the oppression he feels from his brother, school and general poverty.

A Brief Timeline of Mickey's Role He is the twin that stays with Mrs Johnstone, the working class twin. He meets Edward when he was 7 and both their parents want them to stay away from each other. He moves away as his family is being re-housed. He meets Edward again, gets suspended from school, gets a job. Marries Linda who is pregnant, he gets fired shortly after. Bribed by Sammy, ends up in jail, gets addicted to antidepressants, Mrs Lyons tells him about Edward & Linda (who are having an affair) Mickey storms into the town hall, Mrs Johnson revels Edward and Mickey are twins. Mickey waves his gun in a frenzy at Edward, it accidentally goes off and Edward is killed. Mickey shouts ‘No!’ at a waiting policemen, but the police shoot him. He dies.

Mickey's Death "And do we blame superstition for what came to pass? Or could it be what we, the English, have came to know as class?" Although Mickey himself was not particularly superstitious his mother was. She was so convinced that if the twins were ever to find out they were brothers both of them would die. Her strong belief that this was true could have tempted fate which resulted in both Mickey and Eddie's deaths. Mickey's death also shows how fate, bad luck and destiny plague everyone and these features do not discriminate, e.g, Eddie and Mickey were two completely different social classes and yet they were still met with the same fate.

Questions Was Mickey and Eddie's death a coincidence or the result of superstition? Do you think Mickey would turn out like Eddie if the circumstances were different?