Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living… in San Diego.
Visiting… Los Angeles for a few weeks. Thought she’d drop in on her long-lost son. She doesn't like cities. She’s a very light sleeper, traffic noise keeps her wide awake all night.
Profession… grifter. Her boss, “is a guy named Bobo Justus, back in Baltimore. When a long shot gets too much action, I have to put money on that horse at the track, because it's the only way to get the odds down.” She keeps Bobo happy and he gets his cut.
Interests… trying to get his son Roy out of the grifting game. The key is getting rid of his money. If she keeps it around, it'll just make him think how clever he is. It'll be a temptation to get back into the game. By stealing his money, she’s actually saving his life and being a great mother. At least, that’s what she thinks.
Relationship Status… single, and unphased by it. It's her son's love life she’s worried about. He's too good for small-time crooks like Myra. Lilly’s seen people like her before. Double-tough and sharp as they come, and they get what they want or else. But they don't make it work forever.
Challenge… getting out of this business alive. She’s been wanting out of the racket for years, and now she’s out. She can make a clean start, maybe, if Roy stays out of the racket too. If she knows he isn't tied up with Bobo then she won't have to worry about him dying. She’s staying in just to keep him out at this point.
Personality… trapped and guilt-ridden. She’s smart and good-looking. She shouldn't have any trouble finding a job. But she’s never had a legit job in her life. A square job and a quiet life is completely beyond her capabilities. She doesn’t know what to do with herself. It's a big world out there!
Get to Know her in...
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A young short-con grifter suffers both injury and the displeasure of reuniting with his criminal mother, all the while dating an unpredictable young lady.
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To his friends, to his coworkers, and even to his mistress Moira, Roy Dillon is an honest hardworking salesman. He lives in a cheap hotel just within his pay bracket. He goes to work every day. He has hundreds of friends and associates who could attest to his good character. Yet, hidden behind three gaudy clown paintings in Roy's pallid hotel room, sits fifty-two thousand dollars--the money Roy makes from his short cons, his "grifting." For years, Roy has effortlessly maintained control over his house-of-cards life--until the simplest con goes wrong, and he finds himself critically injured and at the mercy of the most dangerous woman he ever met: his own mother. THE GRIFTERS, one of the best novels ever written about the art of the con, is an ingeniously crafted story of deception and betrayal that was the basis for Stephen Frears' and Martin Scorsese's critically-acclaimed film of the same name.
