How Does Connell Use Gestures In Normal People

Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People follows the relationship between young adults Marianne Sheridan and Connell Waldron. Marianne of high class, smart wits and weird quirks and Connell of lower class, intelligent and a football star, find themselves extremely compatible. Their undeniable chemistry physically and emotionally led them in using gestures to express their affection or insecurities with one another. Marianne and Connell’s use of hands serve as a means for communication of intimacy, assurance, and anxiety in their relationship. Connell’s intimate gestures towards Marianne reveal their one-of-a-kind closeness with one another beginning in high school. While exploring an abandoned house at night, the two took a moment with one another:

The jumper Marianne is wearing lies on her hip bone, an erogenous zone of her body, making it evident that Connell is touching her in a romantic manner. He then proceeds to rock “her back against his body” moving together in sync, which is intimate in itself. Then, “. they stood there in stillness, his arms around her, his breath in her ear. Most people go through their whole lives, Marianne thought, without ever really feeling that close to anyone” (Rooney 39). Their stillness after rocking with each other emphasizes their closeness now suggested by his arms being wrapped around her and his breath close to her ear, his face is near her neck, another erogenous zone. Connell’s touch allows Marianne to feel so intimate with him. Marianne is stimulated by Connell’s hands during their long-awaited intimate interaction. After taking time away from one another and living semi-separate lives, Marianne goes to Connell’s place. While discussing their most recent partners a World Cup game, the television soon switches off and a spicy sex scene arises from the bed: His touch has a narcotic effect. A pleasurable stupidity comes over her, she wants very badly to remove her

At the table while Marianne and Peggy are gossiping, “Connell says nothing. He runs his thumb over the label on the beer bottle, feeling for a corner to peel off” (Rooney 98). Then after a while, “the corner of the beer label comes away from the glass under his thumb” (Rooney 98). Finally, “the last corner of the label peels off Connell’s beer bottle now. He puts the beer on the table and starts to fold the label up into a small square. Peggy goes on talking, but it doesn’t seem important to listen to her” (Rooney 99). At this moment, Connell is not interested in the conversation, but feels anxious to be there. He is not fond of Peggy, so he wants her to leave. The fact that she keeps talking makes him uneasy, which causes him to fiddle with the beer label. Out of nowhere, Peggy asked Connell if he was “tempted by the idea of multiple partners” (Rooney 103). She is surprised that Connell honestly admits no, so she says, “[well] maybe just two [women] then. and makes a mischievous kind of giggling noise” (Rooney