Curly Red Case

Contrary to popular belief, doing the right thing does not always lead to a happy ending; a sad truth evident in Curly Red by Joyce Carol Oates. In the story, Lilli Rose, the young protagonist, is confronted by a dilemma: to keep what she had unwittingly seen the night of the Jadro Filer incident a secret and protect her family, or to confess and rid her conscience of guilt. This is a decision which will lead to the loss of the young girl’s innocence, and signify her transition to the grown woman that would be sitting by John Dellamora on his deathbed twenty seven years later - Lilli Rose.

For days following the incident, Curly Red’s sense of family values and her responsibility towards them restricted her from confessing what she knew. “Growing up, we Dellamora kids knew that our daddy would die for us.” In addition to instilling a sense of familial unity among Curly Red and her siblings; this idea contributed to Leo and Mario’s increasingly contumacious behavior, believing that they would have their father’s support no matter the severity of their offence. The first incident in which they had gotten into “serious trouble” was one involving a disabled girl - Liza Deaver. A couple of boys, including Leo and Mario, had cajoled Liza into going to the deserted stucco building at Huron park with them afterschool, and then allegedly raped her. In reaction to this, Mr. Dellamora used his connections to avoid a public hearing in juvenile court, and the boys only received nine pm curfews and Leo was not allowed to drive for six weeks. This lack of repercussion reinforced the boys’ belief that their father would support them no matter what, and inculcated the need to protect the brothers among family members, including Lilli Rose. Mrs. Dellamora even had the gall to say, “Those Deavers better get [Liza] fixed, that one. Before it’s too late,” a remark which implied that her sons were not at fault, and that Liza should get “fixed” so that she would not have to bear with disabled grandchildren. In addition to her father’s actions, this further distorted Lilli’s sense of right and wrong,