Cerebral Palsy
Brown is born with cerebral palsy that develops into a such an extreme case that he cannot keep any part of his body from involuntarily shaking. In other words, he has little to no control over his own physical autonomy. In this sense, his condition becomes a symbol of the force of fate which exert control over the destiny of everybody.
Christy’s Left Foot
Eventually, Christy realizes that there is just one part of his body over which he can exert enough control to withstand the desire of his CP for it to do otherwise. Brown’s left foot therefore symbolizes the tiny aspects of control individuals do have which allow them to control their own destiny.
Christy Brown
Born with a debilitating disease which disallowed him to communicate with anyone in any seemingly rational way, as a child it was assumed that his physical disability must by definition also extend to his mental faculties: he was considered incapable of learning. Faced with the very real physical limitations placed upon him in combination with the misassumption about his cognitive limitations, the future for Christy Brown looked anything but positive. That he was able to overcome to varying degrees both those obstacles and become successful transform Christy Brown into a symbol of that ability to defy the odds.
“Henry”
Henry is the nickname Christy gives to the wooden boxcar which becomes the stand-in for a wheelchair in Christy’s youth that cannot be afforded. With the use of the wheeled Henry, Christy is offered the opportunity to join many of the social activities engaged in by his friends. When Henry breaks down, however, this situation suddenly removes this opportunity and forces Christy to withdraw into social isolation since the family cannot afford a proper wheelchair. Henry thus becomes symbolic of the means by which physical disabilities control a person’s fate not necessarily because of the disability itself, but because of economics, lack of access to health care, and social attitudes.
Dr. Eileen Cole
The character of Eileen Cole is a fictional composite. She never actually existed. Comprised of several different caregivers who assisted Brown during his life, Eileen is most interesting not as a character who helps him, but as one who devastates him. The scene in which he reacts to learning she is engaged to another man while Brown is convinced that they are in love lends a symbolic status to Eileen: the siren who tempts men into thinking they want to be more than friends in order to get whatever it is they want or need from the man. While this may seem a cruel and unnecessary addition to the process of composition—at least one of the real-life models for Eileen publicly made it clear she felt so—ultimately it is essential in revealing how much of Christy Brown’s rage stemmed from the disappointments in the pursuit of romantic love.
