In “The Lifeguard” by Mary Morris, we learn about a pivotal moment for a lifeguard at Pirate Point Beach named Josh Michaels through his own point of view but many years after the date of the incident. In his youth Josh sees himself as young and desirable, and he sees himself as the best — but in reality, he was stuck. Josh, though, wasn’t the only person who was stuck in some way or another; in fact, everyone around him seemed equally as stuck. Readers are introduced to several characters by name including Ric, Billy, Peggy, and Mrs. Lovenheim. Ric is a previous lifeguard who trained Josh; he is stuck in his past as a lifeguard, which is why he visits Josh at the beach every day. Billy is a boy who drowned in the ocean, leaving his family stuck in the past when he was around and leaving the obsessive thought in Josh’s mind of a boy being swept into the ocean. Peggy is the sister of Billy; Josh asks her on a date to the movie theater to find out what Billy was like pre-death and what it was like once he died, which makes Peggy want to leave. Peggy is stuck in the past also, which is why she doesn’t know how to handle being asked about the past because she still mentally lives there and hasn’t moved on. Mrs. Lovenheim is the one who saves a girl from drowning but also saves Josh from turning into Ric. Had she not been there, he would’ve felt at fault for the girl dying and been stuck at Pirate Point with the same outlook, just watching the waves.
Alison: Doesn’t Peggy become disturbed by Josh’s interest in her brother’s death because she does not “mentally” live in the past. Instead, isn’t she aware of how very emotionally damaging that incident was for her entire family?