The End of the Journey towards Female Perfection in Smile, by Roddy Doyle

In his novels Roddy Doyle has challenged stereotypes about women by creating strong female characters who are defined by their resilience and determination. In Smile he presents for the first time a beautiful, successful and moneyed woman. Rachel Carey is a TV celebrity and a feminist activist who marries Victor, an underdog. Rachel redeems him and helps him come to terms with the sexual abuse he suffered as a child. But at the end of the novel the reader discovers that this powerful and successful woman never entered into a relationship with Victor. The aim of this paper is to examine how this fictitious wife that Victor has created seems to possess all the best qualities of two of the most interesting female spouses created by Doyle: Miss O’Shea and Aoife Rabbitte.