Malachi’s Cove and Eveline

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For my GCSE wide reading assignment I will be developing and exploring the important turning point that these two young women must make. The women are Mally Trenglos from 'Malachi's Cove', written in 1867 by Anthony Trollope and Eveline Hill from the book 'Eveline', written by James Joyce, in 1904. I will also be looking at the setting for the stories and the differences between the two stories.

'Malachi's Cove' is set in Cornwall, on the North coast. The cliffs are steep and tall with little cottages situated over the towering precipices. The scene is set between Tinagel and Bossinney, two real places. The Trenglos shack is situated on the edge of a cliff and the access to the cove is restricted and dangerous. Malachi built a stone path leading to his shack and the cove, but the track is still treacherous. Mally is used to the path but it could prove to be lethal to Barty, her neighbour, or anyone else who braves to go down there. Cliffs are situated to the north and south making access from other routes nearly impossible. Then there is the great hole that Mally knows about and never ventures near. She would call it, Poulnadioul, which is supposed to translate into the Hole of Evil. It is described as:

"The great hole was now full of water, but of water which seemed to be boiling as though in a pot. And the pot was full of floating masses, large treasures of seaweed which were thrown to a fro upon its surface"

Line 321

This evil is later the setting for two people to fall in love! At low tide the beach stretches two hundred yards out, but once the tide is in there isn't much manoeuvrability, with Northwest winds bringing extra seaweed for Mally to collect and sell. At one stage the author describes the cove:
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"...The white curling waves were cresting and breaking themselves with violence, and the wind was howling among the caverns..."

Line 264

This seems to suggest that the cove was a dangerous place to be once the winds gathered speed and the waves whipped up.

Situated above the Trenglos shack live the Gunliffes, who live in their Farm, with fifty acres of land. Mally and 'Old Glos' (Malachi) have never been the most sociable people to the Gunliffes, because they are used to being isolated and happy not having people around them.

Malachi's shack ...

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