In this paragraph the importance of the characters will be discussed. Kevin McCoy is Catholic and works in Mr Kelly’s scrapyard. Kate Kelly likes Kevin but Kevin loves Sadie. “Kate tried to cling to Kevin but most of the time she irritated him”. Kate thus tries to get Kevin into trouble by telling the police about Brian’s gun. “Underneath was a rifle and several rounds of ammunition. Brian wanted Kevin to rebel against the Protestants and use the gun but Kevin had rejected his thoughts. Brian then hid the gun in Mr Kelly’s scrapyard. Kevin is then blamed for the gun and so is fired.
“It’s a dead end job anyway…the scrap business. I won’t stay in it”.
Sadie used to work at a hat store until she got fired. She then worked for Mr Blake doing housework. Her family were against the idea of her going out with a Catholic. When Kevin and Sadie meet Mr Jackson, Tommy and Mr Mullet, Mr Jackson wants to fight Kevin, “Mr. Mullet and I have some unfinished business with this fella here.”
Brian is Catholic, and used to be Kevin’s best friend. He’s a shift worker. Brian supports terrorism in Northern Ireland. When he buys a gun, Kevin falls out with him because Kevin doesn’t want to be anything to do with ‘The Troubles’. Brian and two of his friends then beat Kevin up.
Mrs. Mullet is the local Protestant gossip. Linda (her daughter) is like her aswell. Mrs. Mullet is really nosy and tries to make trouble for people.
Linda tells Mr Jackson. “She was with that Catholic boy Kevin McCoy.”
Brede McCoy is Kevin’s sister. She was shot when she was young. “Brede almost died. Remember?” She tries to protect Kevin by telling Sadie to stay away. “But I’ve come to ask you not to meet him…Then don’t see him again. Please don’t see him again, Brede pleaded.”
In this paragraph the setting will be considered. Bangor is a place outside Belfast where Sadie and Kevin feel safe away from trouble. It is a small town next to the seaside. Kevin and Sadie meet there often because it’s peaceful, neutral area. “The resort was not busy”.
They go there separately so they don’t get seen.
The Catholic area is quite tense because there are lots of searches for weapons, this means there are many policemen about. Every one hates the ‘raids’ because they feel they don’t have any privacy. They think that the police are bias towards the Protestants.
In the Protestant area there are murals sprayed on gable ends. The Protestants are very much against Sadie being with Kevin. People wrote on the house at the end of the street, “A TRAITOR LIVES HERE”.
Mr Blake’s area seems very peaceful and a place where both religions can get along. It as a safe place. Since there’s already a mixed couple in the area people may accept Kevin and Sadie more. When Sadie and Kevin begin to go out Mr Blake gets threats and eventually murdered.
The language will be discussed in this section. “I’m a republican”, Kevin says to try and get Brian to go away. Brian then says “We have to be prepared to fight for what we believe in” trying to get Kevin to join him. “I hate the idea of Brian Rafferty telling me what to do” Kevin tells Sadie when he gets fed up with Brian. It is very detailed how Joan Lingard describes the violence. “There were disturbances in the night. Sound of gunfire, rumble of cars, shouting in the distance, flicker of flames against the night sky”. This is a good example of imagery.
I think the author is trying to imply that ‘The Troubles’ are not going to go away but will get worse by the language she uses to describe the areas and the activities. There are constant bombings and Mr Blake dies. Catholics and Protestants just send a bomb back every time something happens. Just now the violence has got worse, Joan Lingard was right!
I don’t think that the violence is going to get better because the deaths are constant as well as the trouble, people are trying to follow their beliefs by killing other people. There is always going to be the divide. Kevin and Sadie were right to leave, they realized that ‘The Troubles’ were getting worse.