The Gathering

Content Warning: This section of the guide analyzes the source text’s graphic depiction of the sexual abuse of children, grief, addiction, and death by suicide.

Corporeality is defined as the fact of physically existing. In The Gathering, corporeality symbolizes mortality, loss, and awareness of being alive. After Liam’s death, Veronica becomes hyper-aware that all humans are fragile physical entities. She is as sensitive to the bodies of strangers as of her children and her husband. Her newfound sensitivity heightens her emotional turmoil in the wake of Liam’s death, in part because every body is a reminder of her loss. When Veronica and her siblings gather for Liam’s wake, she sees Liam’s body as a reminder of his loss of self: “All the Hegarty children have a hangover, including the one in the box […] Liam has the biggest one, of all, of course, because Liam finally got really wasted […] He will be sleeping his one off, for a while” (228). In death, Liam is free from the pain that informs the lived experience. Veronica, still alive, will have her hangover.

Corporeality is ultimately an inspiration to keep living. When Veronica visits St. Ita’s mass grave site, she feels attacked by the spirits: “They have me by the thighs.