Del Moore

Del Moore enters the Milligan household as both a practical ally and a contested authority. He tries to protect Dorothy Milligan and her children, but his insistence on discipline and his growing anger at Billy Milligan’s conduct make him a source of conflict as well as support. The family’s changing perspective on him—from stranger, to would-be father, to an adult whose rebukes recall Chalmer Milligan—gives his role its defining tension.

Identity and Introduction

Del first appears when Tommy returns to the Spring Street home on a trial visit from zone 4. Dorothy picks Tommy up and drives him back to Lancaster, Ohio; shortly after they arrive, Del comes to dinner. Tommy has never met him. He notices Del’s large build and barrel chest, as well as his chain-smoking, and reads the mutual attention between Del and Dorothy as evidence of an attachment. To Tommy, the prospect is unwelcome: Chalmer Milligan has been gone for less than two months, and another man is already spending time with his mother.

Dorothy explains that Del owns the bowling alley and lounge where she used to sing in Circleville. Del describes himself as a friend of the family and objects to the worry Tommy is causing his mother. Since Tommy has only a little time left to serve, Del urges him to stay where he is rather than leave early, adding that Tommy would have to deal with him if he did. Tommy answers the warning with silence over dinner, then asks Kathy what is going on with Del. Their first encounter therefore establishes Del’s central position: he is not merely Dorothy’s visitor, but a man already asserting a say in the children’s lives.

Marriage and a Father’s Role

On October 27, 1973, almost ten years after Dorothy married Chalmer Milligan, she married her fourth husband, Delmos A. Moore. Del tried to act as a father to Billy and the girls, but they resented him. His effort to take on that role did not bring him automatic trust; when he began making rules, Arthur scorned him. Del’s authority was therefore disputed not only in the family’s ordinary relationships but also within Billy’s inner world.

A disagreement over motorcycles shows how a protective household rule could be experienced as unfair. Dorothy forbade her younger son from riding one because of what had happened to Stuart Moore. Tommy understood the reason, but felt that he should not be deprived of something because another person had suffered an accident. The rule belongs to Dorothy’s decision, rather than being attributed to Del, yet it illustrates the family’s strained negotiation over protection, loss, and who had the right to set limits.

Concern, Suspicion, and the Robbery Evidence

Del’s attempt to guide Billy becomes more urgent when Dorothy and Del discover a male nurse’s wallet among Billy’s belongings. The wallet contains identification, credit cards, and a driver’s license. Dorothy is shocked; Del, by contrast, accepts it as an explanation for how Billy has been buying things. His response turns an alarming discovery into a practical suspicion about Billy’s activities.

Dorothy calls Jim Milligan and asks him to come home on emergency leave because she fears Billy is involved in something serious. Jim arrives two days before Christmas. Del and Dorothy show him the wallet and newspaper clippings about the roadside-rest robberies. Del tells Jim that he has tried to be like a father to Billy and explains that, for a time after Zanesville, he had hoped Billy might take the place of his own deceased son. That disclosure makes his frustration more personal: Del has invested a hope of renewed family attachment in Billy, while concluding that Billy will not accept instruction from anyone.

On Christmas Day, Allen returns to the Spring Street home without knowing what happened the night before. Del accuses Billy of committing the roadside-rest robberies and using a car registered in his mother’s name. Allen denies knowing what Del means and storms upstairs. Del then searches Allen’s jacket and finds the car keys. When Del, Kathy, Jim, and Dorothy check the trunk, they find credit cards, driver’s licenses, and a highway map marked with Xs at roadside-rest areas along Route 33. The accusation is no longer only a family argument: the objects in the car give it concrete support. The scene also shows how the household’s attempt to confront Billy is complicated by shifts among the identities appearing in his place; Allen does not recognize the charge being made against him.

Friction and Failed Guidance

Del’s central grievance is Billy’s lying. He believes Billy does foolish or alarming things and then lies to escape the consequences. Dr. Steinberg has advised Del not to let those lies pass unchallenged. Del sees a sharp intelligence beneath Billy’s behavior and rejects the idea that Billy is simply dull-witted. Dorothy answers his complaints by distinguishing her son from the other Billys, a distinction Del finds difficult to accept as an explanation for conduct he believes requires accountability.

Del also sees painting as Billy’s only evident skill or aptitude and complains that Billy neither takes advice nor follows instructions. When he asks who has given Billy information, Billy speaks vaguely of an unnamed acquaintance, without identifying the person or explaining where they met. Del is further angered when Billy responds to simple questions by leaving the room or turning his back. He regards Billy’s fear of guns—despite Billy’s lack of knowledge about them—as another example of behavior he cannot understand. These complaints reveal a gap between Del’s expectation of direct, consistent answers and the evasiveness and fears he encounters.

That gap becomes a confrontation over work. After Billy puts Del down during an attempt to make him use his right hand, Billy gets up to leave without responding. Del challenges him to find a job; Billy says he has been looking. Del calls him a liar and insists that a serious job search would have produced results. The argument lasts more than an hour. Billy finally grabs his clothes and most of his belongings and storms out. The rupture follows from more than a single accusation: Del has turned his concerns about responsibility into a personal rebuke, and Billy leaves rather than continue under his roof.

Conflict and Narrative Significance

Del’s harshest conflict with Billy is recalled through Tommy. During another argument about work, Tommy hears Del repeat the same put-down phrases Chalmer Milligan had used. He looks to Dorothy to defend him, but she says nothing. Tommy decides he cannot continue living in the house, packs his bags, and waits in his Ford for someone to take him away. Allen arrives, recognizes his distress, and drives him out of Lancaster, Ohio.

This parallel does not make Del identical to Chalmer: the evidence also shows Del trying to protect Dorothy, help the family, and take responsibility for Billy. But the echo matters because it shows how Del’s discipline is received by a child already marked by the previous household’s cruelty. He means to establish order and act as a father; his rebukes instead reopen the language of an earlier abuse. Del’s role is consequently defined by a painful mismatch between intention and effect. His concern is real, but it cannot by itself secure the trust he wants, and his effort to impose responsibility contributes to the family’s further fracture.