Deals With
religious conflict ’ getting divorced or not?
Summary
gegliedert nach Seitenzahlen (aus der Cornelsen-Ausgabe)
page 36:
- there is a Divorce Referendum (Abstimmung) in Ireland whether to allow divorcing or not
- Bagnall and his colleagues are working but they are bored as well
page 37:
- their work isn‘t important at all, senseless
- Thackerberry (a workmate from Bagnall) wants to get divorced
- they talk and think the referendum won‘t pass anyway
page 38:
- Bagnall is in love with a girl called Liz
- they want to meet at the Palace Bar
- pro arguments for divorce: only emotional request
contra arguments: The Pope, God, the Bible and your chances of Kingdom Come (Jenseits)
- Bagnall doesn‘t think that God actually cares about getting divorced
page 39:
flashback how he met his girlfriend: she ran into his rear (Heck) and he took her for a drink
- the vote decide that divorce isn‘t allowed yet
at five o‘clock he goes to the Palace bar and waits for his new girlfriend
page 40:
flashback thinks of her, she scared them: she killed the baby dogs without carrying about it ’ too many dogs, nobody wants them
- she breaks up with him, because the referendum didn‘t pass
- she wouldn‘t have any rights if he died because half of their property belongs to his wife
page 41:
- she calls him an F.U.I (Fucked up Irishman/woman), hurts him and then leaves
- he starts drinking alcohol because he is desperate
- lies to his friend Connerty because he feels to ashamed to talk about his feelings so he tells that his pup was killed by a woman
- another friend from work joins them (Skerrit) and he proposes to emigrate
page 42:
- his friends talk and are disappointed about the vote
- they talk bad about Ireland
- he leaves the bar and gets to another (a bar near Trinity)
- he looks as if someone had beaten him up
- Bagnall is depressed about the fact that Liz left him
page 43:
- swears at Liz‘ family and her friends in his mind
- the thought of her makes him happy
- next pub: Morrissey‘s where the edge of society is
page 44:
- talks to someone who voted no but he can‘t say anything about it since he didn‘t even vote
- Frawley drives him mad because he tells him how unloved he is and that he hates couples
- Bagnall wants to be alone, he is annoyed by Frawley
- last bar: Rathfarnham, a working-class pub with a TV
- he‘s sure he wouldn‘t meet anyone he knows there, so it makes him feel comfortable
- on a newspaper he can see the headline about Republican prisoners
page 45:
- he says that they are all prisoners of the Republic because of its repressive laws
- he doesn‘t know what to do with his life
- wants to stop loving Ireland
- now feels like a prisoner of the Republic because it makes it impossible for him to live with Liz
characters:
Jack Bagnall
- works in the Remedial Law Section
- comes from Dublin (a „true Dubliner”)
- went to law school and got law degrees but was too feckless (feige) to become a lawyer
- he renews the old laws ’ bored by his work
- is in love with a girl from the countryside and it hurts him a lot when she leaves him
- married to a woman who now lives in America, marriage was a joke and they broke up three month after ’ that‘s eight years ago now
- didn‘t vote for the referendum
Liz
- a calm girl, no fuss (Aufheben), never too early
- is called „apple” by her boyfriend, but she hates it
- comes from the countryside
- has some brothers
- superstitious (abergläubisch) („Why thunder turns milk sour”, p.39, l.19)
- doesn‘t care about killing puppies ’ cold-hearted
- marriage is important to her because of the money which is involved
- there is no expression in her face when she breaks up with Jack Bagnall
What does this story add to our picture of Ireland?
- men aren‘t allowed to talk about their emotions in public/to other men
- Bagnall hates Ireland because they don‘t leave any freedoms
- „The thing about Ireland was that it had the climate for revolution but not the weather” (p.44, ll.33-34)
- people don‘t get second chances
religious conflict ’ getting divorced or not?
Summary
gegliedert nach Seitenzahlen (aus der Cornelsen-Ausgabe)
page 36:
- there is a Divorce Referendum (Abstimmung) in Ireland whether to allow divorcing or not
- Bagnall and his colleagues are working but they are bored as well
page 37:
- their work isn‘t important at all, senseless
- Thackerberry (a workmate from Bagnall) wants to get divorced
- they talk and think the referendum won‘t pass anyway
page 38:
- Bagnall is in love with a girl called Liz
- they want to meet at the Palace Bar
- pro arguments for divorce: only emotional request
contra arguments: The Pope, God, the Bible and your chances of Kingdom Come (Jenseits)
- Bagnall doesn‘t think that God actually cares about getting divorced
page 39:
flashback how he met his girlfriend: she ran into his rear (Heck) and he took her for a drink
- the vote decide that divorce isn‘t allowed yet
at five o‘clock he goes to the Palace bar and waits for his new girlfriend
page 40:
flashback thinks of her, she scared them: she killed the baby dogs without carrying about it ’ too many dogs, nobody wants them
- she breaks up with him, because the referendum didn‘t pass
- she wouldn‘t have any rights if he died because half of their property belongs to his wife
page 41:
- she calls him an F.U.I (Fucked up Irishman/woman), hurts him and then leaves
- he starts drinking alcohol because he is desperate
- lies to his friend Connerty because he feels to ashamed to talk about his feelings so he tells that his pup was killed by a woman
- another friend from work joins them (Skerrit) and he proposes to emigrate
page 42:
- his friends talk and are disappointed about the vote
- they talk bad about Ireland
- he leaves the bar and gets to another (a bar near Trinity)
- he looks as if someone had beaten him up
- Bagnall is depressed about the fact that Liz left him
page 43:
- swears at Liz‘ family and her friends in his mind
- the thought of her makes him happy
- next pub: Morrissey‘s where the edge of society is
page 44:
- talks to someone who voted no but he can‘t say anything about it since he didn‘t even vote
- Frawley drives him mad because he tells him how unloved he is and that he hates couples
- Bagnall wants to be alone, he is annoyed by Frawley
- last bar: Rathfarnham, a working-class pub with a TV
- he‘s sure he wouldn‘t meet anyone he knows there, so it makes him feel comfortable
- on a newspaper he can see the headline about Republican prisoners
page 45:
- he says that they are all prisoners of the Republic because of its repressive laws
- he doesn‘t know what to do with his life
- wants to stop loving Ireland
- now feels like a prisoner of the Republic because it makes it impossible for him to live with Liz
characters:
Jack Bagnall
- works in the Remedial Law Section
- comes from Dublin (a „true Dubliner”)
- went to law school and got law degrees but was too feckless (feige) to become a lawyer
- he renews the old laws ’ bored by his work
- is in love with a girl from the countryside and it hurts him a lot when she leaves him
- married to a woman who now lives in America, marriage was a joke and they broke up three month after ’ that‘s eight years ago now
- didn‘t vote for the referendum
Liz
- a calm girl, no fuss (Aufheben), never too early
- is called „apple” by her boyfriend, but she hates it
- comes from the countryside
- has some brothers
- superstitious (abergläubisch) („Why thunder turns milk sour”, p.39, l.19)
- doesn‘t care about killing puppies ’ cold-hearted
- marriage is important to her because of the money which is involved
- there is no expression in her face when she breaks up with Jack Bagnall
What does this story add to our picture of Ireland?
- men aren‘t allowed to talk about their emotions in public/to other men
- Bagnall hates Ireland because they don‘t leave any freedoms
- „The thing about Ireland was that it had the climate for revolution but not the weather” (p.44, ll.33-34)
- people don‘t get second chances
