From the novel we get the Atmosphere of what the Home was like “The walls were painted throughout a pale hospital green” and “The place was scrubbed and clean and dead “Like a corpse”. First instinctive impressions of the Home are lifeless cold miserable and absolutely unpleasant which do not relate to a “home” at all. Bernard McLaverty uses his scenes to describe the Home and they have a similar description of a hospital “The air was full of disinfectant and polish”. The surrounding environment of outside the Home gives a bizarre welcome to inmates.
“Surrounding the whole complex was a high wire fence that screamed and whistled in the constant wind from the sea”
A great use of personification is used in this quote and it works to make you feel anything but nice feelings, it makes you feel the “Home” is more like a Prison and the boys were not there to be reformed but there for Punishment.
At the beginning of this novel I admire Sebastian for being nice to the “inmates” and especially to Owen who is the youngest of the boys in the Home, suffers from epilepsy and experienced a hard life with his parents. I feel sympathetic for Owen Kane as I believe he wasn’t given the opportunity at life before he was entered the Home. Benedict gets all my negatives as I see him for more evil than good. He is a bully to Sebastian, Owen and all the other boys.
Brother Sebastian wants to leave because he doesn’t believe in by Benedict’s duct rue of “Kill and cure”. He plans to run away and decides to take Owen with him. I believe Sebastian wanted to take Owen with him because he had sympathy for Owen and wanted him to have a better chance at life and he thought he could provide in the manner of a father and son relation... Personally I think this was the best decision to make for Owen and him self as both of them were miserable and living in the Home seemed like a dead end, an everlasting punishment to both of them. He is given the chance to abandon the Home when he receives the money from his father’s farm. With free will Owen agreed to leave.
I can excuse the fact that Michael made no real long term preparations as he had to leave urgently or his inheritance would have been assimilated into the Brotherhood by Brother Benedict because of Sebastian’s vow of poverty.
Sebastian decides to go to England because there are millions of people there with crowds arranging from big to small. It gave them the cover that they needed. We can easily tell that Michael was going to be unstable as all his life he has not encountered the “Real World” as he has been lifted and laid by his mother and father while he lived at home. Then when he joins the Brotherhood he was provided with everything he needed. We can also tell he hasn’t been a victim of any criminality which also gives him an appropriate reason to be so trustworthy because when he goes to take some cash from what he received he signs a document without even thinking of what possible information it could include and is charged interest on his own money by Maguire the solicitor. The simile “The silver brio felt like ice in his hand as he signed” indicates that Maguire was far from trustworthy. Owen may be only young but he has developed a great deal of street sense for his age. Despite Owen’s age, this indicates to me that he has a skill that he could benefit from more than which Michael could benefit from to help with survival on the streets.
There was no plan for what they would do after the money had run out or which way their lifestyle was going. This shows me that Michael was not thinking entirely clear and smart about the situation he had put himself and Owen in. However, it’s possible the death of his father could have affected his mental health and resulted in that he was not thinking rationally.
Michael and Owen were checking into the hotel and the receptionist of the hotel was reading a book called “Act of Love” which is a harbinger of what Michael does to Owen, an “Act of Love”. Michael also takes the name Abraham which is a symbolic as it is like the bible story of Abraham and Isaac because Abraham attempts to sacrifice his son as an “Act of Love”. Michael lays down a few rules for Owen to follow which is again father and son relationship. With Michael’s lack of parental skills he does well to speak more firmly to get Owen to know who is boss.
We are informed of how Michael spends his money stupidly “Toys, Expensive Hotels and Cigarettes” but once again I don’t see this as a bad side of Michael I feel Owen to trust him and make himself a role model for the boy.
Owen steals a pen from a shop and gives it to Michael for a gift, this show us that Owen is thankful at this point of his life and wanted to show thanks. Michael shouts at Owen for stealing and Owen cries again this shows us that Owen now trust Michael and has feelings as this was the first time Michael had seen the boy cry. When he hugs Michael to apologise this completely showed us the trust he had for Michael and the Father and Son theme again registers its presence in the novel again.
Bernard McLaverty uses the flash back technique to remind us, of which way the boy had lived and why Michael had justification for taking him.
“Brother Benedict’s punishments and victimization, the boy’s mother weeping and drinking and hating... A life of misery of frustration that led to inevitable crime and love less ness”
The description the novel gives for the first attack Michael witness is upsetting.
“Owen slithered down but because of the wall bars, remained upright during the attack. He gyrated and threshed, his knees and legs unable to bend. His head pummelled on the bars. His eyes rolled and he made strange noises”
This horrific attack which suddenly impaled itself on Owen gets the audience thinking “what if this happens while Owen and Michael are alone?” These points and more should have been thought of in a long term plan, but Michael is in the “phrase” in which he was did not have the mental strength to think of these salient points.
In the novel the weather is used to show when things are going well and when things are going bad. When Michael’s money starts to disappear the weather around them becomes poor with wind and rain. The reader easily notices the technique used and naturally become tensed. When Michael purchases a radio and listens to Ireland’s radio station this recreates the atmosphere for the reader and reminds them that they are still be hunted for. This is also a great technique to create suspense. We finally discover that the search has moved to England. At this point of the story you start to feel the sense of tension and are worrying how long they have got left and how are they going to get caught. However Michael is still trying to be a father to Owen.
He takes Owen to see his favourite team play. Owen is obviously excited as it is his first time. Michael said to Owen “Stiff elbows” as he lifted him above the crowd. Again this shows us a resemblance to Michael and his father’s relationship. The crowds are very rowdy and Owen and Michael move to the front of the crowds closer to the pitch. This again is like father and son relationship going to watch the game. All this excitement triggers Owens attack. Once Owen was laid in a recovering room Michael had the chance to let the boy return by leaving him by himself but his choice was not that. According to my opinion I believe he still had hope for Owen and himself to live together and he didn’t want to leave Owen, as Owen would have thought he was being abandoned.
Michael creates a turning point in the novel in chapter thirteen when he makes a plan. At this part of the novel we are told he has made a plan and nothing else. This is to create suspense and have the reader to read on to see what the plan is. We are told that the plan is coming from demons at the back of his mind which triggers the sense of evil.
“He had fought so hard for the past few hours, rejecting thoughts and images that had appeared like demons to torment him that he gave up and let the plan stay”
At this point of the novel I still have sympathy for Michael. I believe and I don’t think anything could change my mind that Michael meant good for Owen. I can back this up with sufficient evidence which relates to Michael doing what was wanted from Owen. He granted Owen three wishes, to fly, play football and to swim. Michael granted all three by taking him to the football game, bringing him swimming, and flying in a plane. Owen also said when he was experiencing a fit he felt brilliant. Michael did the “killing” when Owen was in having a fit.
“Everything’s right. Everything’s in its right place…it’s the right colour, the right smell. Sometimes I get a smell that… it’s beautiful”, “The whole thing is… beautiful. I… be happy” and “I would like to be like that all the time”
The novel starts to change in tone dramatically after the thirteenth chapter, everything starts to go downhill and Michael starts to show a little bit of desperation and insanity by moving into a squat with Owen and Haddock who is a homosexual, drug addict and a pervert“.
Michael gets a job and leaves Owen in the “Squat” alone when he return Haddock is being friendlier than ever with Owen. At this point I felt Michael had made the biggest mistake so far and if he was to continue living with Owen he should get out of the Squat but he refuses and chances his luck for a second day. Michael returns home from work the second day and finds Haddock wearing a dress with Owen smoking cannabis. This time Michael is furious and tells Haddock not to come back he threatens him as well. When Michael threatened Haddock this showed Michael having responsibility and trying to do the best for Owen and again the Father like son theme. Leaving Owen by himself could have lead to a bigger disgusting scene.
“If I get you in that room again, I’ll thump your teeth down your throat.”
I think the Haddock incident is significant because this showed how much desperate and determinate Michael was to make him and Owen make it to a better life.
The climax comes in the last chapter as the Author is trying to lead you into his frame of mind. He creates more suspense with the atmosphere he creates.
“On the way to the beach Michael is still feeling very tense. He has the feeling that he is being followed or watched.”
Michael returned to Ireland with Owen, I think this was the right thing to do as this is where the boy was born and this is where if he had the choice would want to die. He also granted his wish to fly. He brings him to the beach and lets him swim. Again making the boy happy and granting him his wishes. Suddenly the use of the weather comes back into the picture when the sky darkens and lighting starts to strike. This is the first time horrendous weather has been brought into the novel this clearly indicated that the biggest event of the novel was going to happen. The author makes the ending very quick and brutally disturbing. He uses techniques in his writing to make the reader feel horror and emotion.
“In his gripping fingers he could feel the throb of the boy’s life and he gritted his teeth, willing himself to complete what he had started.”
At the end of this novel I was in shock. I did not believe that a Brother would take the life from a young boy. I like the way the author created suspense. The violent /disturbing ending to this book from my own opinion was unique and works well. Although I do wish we found out what had happened to Michael.
My conclusion is that I do sympathise with Michael and in my opinion the loss of his father did not put him into the right frame of mind. He also wanted the best for Owen and believed that he could have made it work between them and for them, which in the end floundered because of his inexperience with the real world. I believe that the killing was an “act of Love” and that Michael granted him the wishes as Owen had wished for them, he then tried to kill him when he was in a fit as he believed that Owen would leave the world in the best possible way at that point and time of his life.