Small Mercies

South Boston is famous for its insularity and suspicion of outsiders, and because Small Mercies begins with the imminent implementation of the busing initiative as its social and political backdrop, the novel is deliberately crafted to reflect the profound anxiety of many residents over the imminent breach of the city’s invisible rules and boundaries. Some characters voice legitimate objections to busing, stating that those responsible for its implementation are hypocrites, and that sending children from one poor district to another is unlikely to enhance their education. They also counter that when students are suddenly forced to share spaces with those whom they have been trained to view as enemies, violence is likely to break out. Sooner or later, however, these more nuanced arguments give way to ugly racism and violent outbursts that reflect much more poorly on the people of South Boston than on the people they are trying to exclude. This dynamic is portrayed within the context of the novel as neighborhood rumor is quick to spin Auggie Williamson’s murder as the case of a drug dealer who simply got what was coming to him. Likewise, Mary Pat’s coworkers dismiss news reports revealing Auggie to be a hard-working student from a respectable family, for they derisively scoff, “Look how they try to make him look like a saint […] Keep talking about how he was a hard worker, his father’s a hard worker, blah blah blah.