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‘Cal’ by Bernard MacLaverty
‘Cal’ by Bernard MacLaverty is a novel which deals with the political and religious turmoil of Protestant Northern Ireland. The main character ‘Cal’ is a young Catholic man living in Ulster, a largely Protestant area. ... However ‘Cal’ becomes an unwillingly accessory to an IRA murder and then immediately finds it difficult to ever escape the grasps of the likes of ‘Crilly’, an old school friend and other IRA movements, who constantly persuade him to do the ‘one last job’. ... Cal and Marcella’s developing relationship and their tragic efforts to overcome the constant conflicts of Catholic/Protestant divide. Cal and his father Shamie, constantly receive threats from Protestant movements. Living in a largely Protestant populated Ulster, Cal is regularly confronted by Protestants in his own neighbourhood and they are eventually forced out of home after a suspected petrol bomb from a Protestant movement. The harsh realism and honesty of violent events in the novel adds to MacLaverty’s ability to move readers with such tragic stories.
The novel centres around one main character, ‘Cal’. Brought up by his father Shamie from the age of fourteen, Cal has become a very private and introverted individual. Cal’s mother Gracie, collapsed and died of a brain haemorrhage when Cal was aged four, while his brother Brendan died in a car crash. Having lost his mother and brother at such a young age, Cal tries to find a family substitute, this comes in the form of school friend Crilly, and others such as Skeffington and Dunlop. ... Cal’s upbringing is very restricted, his father is very poor and work is hard to come by, as a result Cal is constantly ‘down’ or ‘depressed’ with few friends.
Approximate Word count = 1372
Approximate Pages = 5.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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