| Towards the end of Million Dollar Baby the character | | | | their whole life (Maggie tells Frankie at one point, "If I |
| Scraps, ex boxing great turned gym porter, says of | | | | don't have this, I have nothing"; Scraps literally lives in |
| a character who has been away from the gym for a | | | | the gym, in a small space in a corner with a curtain.He |
| while, "And then a ghost walked in." This is an | | | | never leaves the place (Frankie invites him to come |
| inadvertant commentary on almost all the principal | | | | to Vegas for a fight and he says, "Do you know |
| characters in the film, and thier relationships to each | | | | what this place would look like if I left it?") Everyone |
| other.Scraps (Morgan Freeman) is a ghost for Frankie | | | | whom Frankie seems to care about in his life has |
| (Clint Eastwood), as is Maggie (Hillary Swank) - the | | | | been gravely hurt by him - his daughter, Maggie, and |
| former because he lost sight in one eye in a match, | | | | Scraps. The gym is a place of vicousness and street |
| many years ago, partly due to Frankie, and the latter | | | | consciousness - a bully beats an annoying punk to a |
| because as time goes on she becomes a surrogate | | | | bloody pulp, only to be knocked out cold in turn by |
| for his long gone daughter who refuses to reconcile | | | | Scraps. Frankie and Maggie are both on horrible terms |
| with him (we are not told exactly what went wrong | | | | with their immediate families, and Scraps has no |
| between Frankie and his daughter, though we see | | | | family in sight;it is such a nonissue for him that none |
| that he has a shoebox full of letters he sent her | | | | is ever even mentioned.In this world, in these lives, |
| marked RETURN TO SENDER).Frankie goes to Mass | | | | the characters share much that is bleak and dismal, |
| every day; the priest tells him, "Write to your | | | | yet the end effect of the film on the viewer is one |
| daughter." Scraps and Maggie bond because both | | | | of hope, respect, and dignity nonetheless. Any time |
| have been trained by Frankie. Scraps and Maggie, | | | | one character turns to another, their souls,their |
| without knowing it, become mirrors of each other, | | | | cores, relate - and in this way these relationships |
| each having been gravely hurt in boxing matches with | | | | reveal to us some of the essential truths about |
| Frankie as their manager. Yet, at the same time, | | | | humanity.Peter Quinones is the author of Amethyst |
| they mirror each other in another way - boxing is | | | | Secrets, published by I Universe. |