© Servicio de Publicaciones. Universidad de Murcia. All rights reserved. IJES, vol. 24 (2), 2024, pp. 127–140 Print ISSN: 1578-7044; Online ISSN: 1989-6131 doi: 10.6018/ijes.574311 “If you weren’t my friend I wouldn’t know who I was”: Care Virtues and the Relational Self in Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You JOSÉ CARREGAL-ROMERO* 1 University of Huelva (Spain) Received: 19/06/2023. Accepted: 23/11/2023. ABSTRACT Set in contemporary Ireland, Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021) focuses on the relationship dynamics between characters who struggle with intimacy and human connection, against the backdrop of the individualist ethos and existential anxieties induced by current neoliberal systems. Drawing on care ethics, vulnerability and relationality theory, this analysis of Beautiful World underscores how Rooney constructs her characters’ psychological evolution through their progressive, albeit irregul ar, adoption of care virtues within relationships. The analysis shall apply Khader’s taxonomy of care virtues (2011), which include “loving attention” –a willingness to appreciate and accommodate the particular nature of the other –, “the transparent self” –an awareness of how our self-interests block our recognition of the other’s needs–, and “narrative understanding”, a desire to engage with the other’s personal history so as to make decisions that promote his/her well -being. KEYWORDS: Sally Rooney; Beautiful World, Where Are You; Care Ethics; Neoliberalism; Relationality; Vulnerability. 1. INTRODUCTION Set in contemporary Ireland, Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021) revolves around the distancing, crisis and eventual reconciliation between two close friends in their early thirties, Alice –a secluded celebrity novelist who moved to a mansion in the countryside– and Eileen –a precarious literary magazine editor living in Dublin–, *Address for correspondence: Avda. de las Fuerzas Armadas, s/n, Faculty of Humanities, University of Huelva, 21007 Huelva, Spain; e-mail: jose.carregal@dfing.uhu.es International Journal of English Studies IJES UNIVERSITY OF MURCIA http://revistas.um.es/ijes