The given story is about immigration and
its effects on the society and prejudices towards the immigrants depicted
through the interaction between a loving and concerned mother and her
rebellious son. The story also has a coming-of-age theme within it where the
mother narrates how she has understood that her son has grown up into an adult
and wants to have his own separate identity. The whole revolves around a
particular incident mentioned right from the first line with suggestions that
the narrator’s son, called Kieran, has got into a terrible fight and has badly
injured himself. As the story progresses, the readers get exposed to the
possible causes of the fight and there is a strong implication that it has
something to do with racism and immigration.
The story begins with a conversation between
Kieran, the central character of the story and his mother, who acts as the
narrator. This conversation tells the readers that Kieran has got himself into
a terrible fight. Descriptions like “shirt splattered with blood” and “nose
spread across your face” in the beginning of the story clearly suggests that
the fight was pretty bad. Kieran’s character is also described neatly near the
beginning. Going to “Tiffany’s”, a disco, wearing a good “Ben Sherman” shirt
implies that Kieran is an active and outgoing young adult. He is no longer the
little kid who “sniff the snot back up into his nose” because his father told
him that “boys don’t cry”. Therefore, we can establish that Kieran is capable
of making his own decisions and the fight which has taken place is done
willingly.
The story is written in a third person
limited point of view of the narrator, who also portrays the character of Kieran’s
mother in the short story. She goes on to describe her relationship with her
son and provide a context for the whole story as well. She reminisces how, over
the course of time, her son grew up and she can no longer control him now that
she “need to stand on a chair to look him in the eye”. Yet, being a mother, she
has this maternal instinct to protect her son from all harms even if all she
can do is just wash his blood-stained shirt.
The setting of the story in terms of
place is not as significant as in terms of time. The whole story basically
takes place in the home of the main character. But the time is significant and
it is understood when the characters sat in the kitchen listening to the radio
which announced the bombing incident which had taken place in a pub called
Guildford. These bombings took place in England during 1970s and the incident
was carried out by the IRA, the Irish Republican Army. The characters
introduced in the story are also confirmed to be of Irish origin. Hence, from
this connection, we can safely assume that the fight Kieran is involved in has
something to do with the bombings. The fact that Kieran does not want to
acknowledge being an Irish – “I ain’t Irish” – suggests that he was a victim of
prejudices formed against the Irish community as a whole, which resulted from the
bombings.
The fact that Kieran wants to get rid of
his Irish origin and blend in with the British is further confirmed by how he
chose to go Tiffany’s, a common place for British youngsters to go for fun,
instead of the traditional Tara club. His choice of condom, Durex, which is “approved
to British standards” is a clear symbolization his transition into the British
culture. Basically, Kieran was embarrassed of his Irish roots due to the
bombing incident and the prejudices – the fight in the beginning – he faced for
being who he is. He is bullied into demonizing his own racial roots. Kieran’s
denial also acts as the climax of the story.
The story goes into a falling action
after Kieran’s denial of being Irish and the shifts to the mother. The last
paragraph is particularly important because the imagery of the last paragraph
summarizes the plot and the theme of the whole story. It perfectly captures the
underlying message of the story. The last line – “I watch the shirt, pushing it
down so it’s covered” – suggests that prejudices against the Irish will not be
removed any time soon. The shirt poses as a symbol for prejudice while the cold
water, previously mixed with salt and has turned pink due to the clotted blood,
symbolizes Kieran’s act of denial and the mother’s support and acceptance of
her son’s decision. The mother initially may have opposed his views loudly. But
the final act of the mother is a clear indication that she herself knows that
the prejudices formed against them is going to stay for a while.
The short story is deceptively simple
with a deep message tucked under the veil of its straightforward writing style
and the smooth transition of events that take place in the story. Overall, the
story tries to illustrate the condition of the Irish in the British community
after the Guildford pub bombings. It is heavily implied in the story that the
condition has been mostly negative to the point where people can get beaten
just for being Irish, as depicted through Kieran. It is a common human nature
that people form a negative attitude towards particular groups especially if a
section of the group commits a serious crime. The writer does quite a good job
in capturing this mentality through this short story.
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