Trespasses

“There’s our Tommy, said Davy.

As he spoke, the others began closing in on his older brother. Tommy took a step away from them, but one boy raised his hands and pushed them into Tommy’s chest. He stumbled off the pavement and onto the road.”

Tommy’s introduction demonstrates the constant bullying he faces from his peers. Eventually, anti-Catholic discrimination leads him to join the IRA and kill Michael, but the boy in this scene is a far cry from the murderer he becomes by the novel’s end. This scene occurs the first time that Cushla drives Davy home. As the novel continues, Cushla’s involvement with the McGeowns has major implications for her and the rest of her family.

“It’s from an endearment. A chuisle mo chroí: the pulse of my heart. My da wouldn’t have known that. He got it from the John McCormack song.

The pulse of my heart. If anyone heard her.

I knew your father, he said. He was a beautiful man.

He was, she started to say, but his words had slayed her.”

The discussion of Cushla’s name helps to illuminate her characterization. Her late father named her, and she still experiences grief and loneliness from his death. As a result, Michael’s admiration for her father is deeply meaningful to her, as indicated by the powerful word choice that his praise of her father as “a beautiful man […] had slayed her.” Cushla’s Irish name and fluency in the language mark her as a Catholic and draw negative attention from some of the story’s Protestant characters. The Irish conversation classes are one of the main alibis that Michael and Cushla employ to see each other.

“She knew the kiss was coming but was surprised by its clumsiness, the chink of his teeth against hers, the scrape of his chin. It made her feel tender toward him and she found herself kissing him back gently to soothe him. He withdrew his hand and rubbed it across his face. My circumstances are complicated, he said. I realize how hackneyed that must sound. I won’t always be able to get away.

But sometimes you will?

Yes.

OK, she said, because it was all he was offering.”

At the end of Part 1, Michael and Cushla share their first kiss. This milestone marks the beginning of their romantic relationship. Because the Catholic Cushla knows that Michael is a married Protestant, this plot event also develops the themes of The Complexities of Relationships in a Divided Society and Navigating Ethical Dilemmas. Further advancing the theme of complex relationships, Michael describes his circumstances as “complicated” and is aware that the term is both “hackneyed” and accurate. The way he rubs his face after they kiss suggests his inner conflict. Cushla accepts his terms “because it was all he was offering.” As the novel continues, she must contend with her own reservations about their relationship and her frustrated desire for more.

“He stepped over the gully, one long stride, and began to pluck flowers from a gorse bush. When he stepped back he offered them to her, dropping them into her cupped hands. The stems were tough and needly. He told her to put them in the water with the eggs. That she would see why when she did it. That one should never give gorse as a gift because it was unlucky for both the giver and the receiver. That he was happy to take his chances with bad luck if she was.”

This passage establishes the meaning of gorse, which is one of the novel’s major symbols. According to local belief, the plant is “unlucky for both the giver and the receiver.” The conventional wisdom of their town would say that Michael and Cushla are already trying their luck because of the differences and divisions between them. Gorse plants appear throughout the novel and foreshadow Michael’s tragic end.

“Come and see me, he said. As ‘yes’ came out of her mouth, she had felt a first twinge of resentment. He would never give her more than this. For her there would just be liaisons arranged an hour or two in advance, couplings in lay-bys, evenings at his friends’ house under unconvincing pretexts. When her thoughts flitted—briefly—to his wife, the guilt at what she was doing to her did not take.”

This passage develops the theme of Navigating Ethical Dilemmas and provides insight into Cushla’s mindset as she navigates her relationship with Michael. Cushla’s inner conflict in this scene has less to do with “the guilt at what she was doing to” Michael’s wife than the resentment and anger she has because she feels that she is at his beck and call. This lack of guilt helps to explain why Cushla continues with the affair.

“Why did you tell them about me?

Respect, said Gina. I want to be treated with respect.

Well, try sobering up then! said Cushla, stalking to the kitchen and banging the door behind her.”

The Laverys’ family drama on Easter contributes to the theme of The Complexities of Relationships in a Divided Society. Factors adding to the familial tension include Gina’s indignation that Eamonn and Marian kept the news of their third pregnancy from her for months, Gina’s alcohol addiction, and the betrayal Cushla feels that Gina divulged that she spent the night with a man. Prior to this point, Cushla cared for her mother while swallowing her complaints. The way she confronts her mother about her addiction in this scene represents a shift in their relationship.

“I appear to be jealous, he said. An unhelpful development.

I never know where you are or what you’re doing. So I won’t be getting myself to a nunnery anytime soon.

I’m sorry.

Good, she said, and hung up.”

Cushla demonstrates character growth in this excerpt by standing up for herself and refusing to enable Michael’s jealousy. Hanging up on him is one way that she asserts a measure of control in a relationship in which she often feels that he holds the cards. Michael’s envy is stirred by Gerry, who offers Cushla much-needed loyalty, platonic friendship, and an alibi for her time with Michael.

“If it wasn’t for the political situation, most of these kids would not be in trouble, said Michael.

And you’re their champion. Good old Michael. Defending the indefensible.

There is no work for them. They are subjected to constant harassment. Every once in a while the police or army screws up so badly it results in a recruitment drive for the IRA, said Michael. His voice had changed, his diction crisp, the tone orotund, like a pastor.”

Michael’s dialogue provides historical context by describing the unemployment and “constant harassment” that leads young people to join the Irish Republican Army. Michael’s “crisp” and “orotund” voice change reflects his passion for justice.

“I’ve taken on a case of which he doesn’t approve.

What case?

Three boys who were picked out of a lineup by a witness who could only be described as unreliable.

What did they do?

What are they accused of, I think you mean. Murdering a member of the RUC, he said.”

This passage contains the first mention of the case involving three young Catholic men accused of murdering a constable. Michael shares the details of the case with Cushla after Victor’s anti-Catholic sentiment leads to an argument between the couple. Michael’s compassion and commitment to justice remind Cushla that she and Michael share key values despite the many differences between them.

“Without thinking, Cushla thrust out her hand. Seamie looked at it and slowly turned up his palms. The wounds were still wet. Other scars—crude red lines—traveled up from the heels of his hands, disappearing under the unbuttoned cuffs of his shirt. Cushla thought she might pass out.”

Seamie McGeown’s grievous physical condition has important connections to the novel’s historical context, symbolism, and plot. Seamie is targeted for the brutal attack because he is a Catholic. The wounds on his palms were inflicted by a nail. The text uses this reference to the stigmata to depict the suffering of Catholics during the Troubles. The attack on his father radicalizes Tommy, leading him to join the Provisional IRA and eventually murder Michael.

“He lit the tobacco and told her between puffs that he had liked how she stalked into the pub with a dirty big cross on her forehead. […] That he loved her. If you’re saying that you’d better mean it, she said.

I do. You’re supposed to say it back.

Another time. I’ve been doing all the running.”

In a significant development for the plot and the theme of The Complexities of Relationships in a Divided Society, Michael tells Cushla that he loves her for the first time. She doesn’t say it back, reasoning that she’s “been doing all the running.” Her response shows that she sees their relationship as unequal and is trying to exert some control over their situation to make up for this. Ultimately, Michael dies before Cushla tells him that she loves him, which adds to the novel’s tragedy.

“She laughed, but felt uneasy. She dressed for him, tolerated the disdain of his friends, suffered his absences and lapses of contact; like Nora she had been ‘performing tricks’ for him.”

The text uses an allusion to another literary work to show how Cushla sees herself and her actions at this point in the novel, Cushla feels that she has been “performing tricks” and debasing herself for Michael like Nora Helmer does for her husband, Torvald, in A Doll’s House by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play is a tragedy, and Nora ultimately must leave the repressive domestic sphere to find freedom and dignity at the end. Like Ibsen’s protagonist, Cushla must learn to protect her dignity and live without the man she loves in the end. However, unlike Torvald, Michael loves Cushla. Both works explore the complexities of relationships and gender roles.

“Do you think we’re ridiculous?

Where did that come out of?

Do you?

Not when we’re alone, but yeah, sometimes I do. Your friends think I’m some dolly bird you picked up in a pub. Which I kind of am, to be fair. And you’re married, which makes me your bit on the side. We’re actually worse than ridiculous.

Is that why you’re angry? he said.

I try not to be, but I can’t help it.

God did this, you know, he said. Put you in front of me when I’ve nothing to offer you.”

Developing the theme of The Complexities of Relationships in a Divided Society, Cushla and Michael discuss their feelings about their situation and how it looks to others. This conversation takes place during the couple’s trip to Dublin, revealing that even when they are able to leave their town temporarily, they cannot escape the judgment that awaits them there. Michael is not portrayed as an especially religious person, and his fatalistic statement about God foreshadows their relationship’s tragic ending.

“It’s weird how well you know Dublin. You being a good Ulster Prod and all.

A pause as he swallowed a mouthful of stout. I’m an all-Ireland sort of chap, he said.

As opposed to united Ireland.

Not necessarily. I love Ireland. I just don’t think it’s worth killing anyone over it.”

Cushla and Michael’s dialogue in this passage touches on the themes of The Pervasiveness of Violence and The Complexities of Relationships in a Divided Society. The majority of Dublin’s population is Catholic, and Michael’s ease in the city demonstrates his fair-minded character. Although he is “[n]ot necessarily” opposed to the unification of Ireland, he values human life over the republicans’ highly contentious political aim.

“She drew the curtains and placed her hands on his shoulders. They were rigid with tension. He rummaged in his pocket and produced a key.

I had this cut for you. Come and go as you please, he said, twisting to give it to her. She waited for him to say more; the moment seemed significant. But he merely stroked her hand and reached for a pen.”

In an important relationship and plot development, Michael gives Cushla a key to his flat. This is a sign that the characters are growing closer as well as a conscious effort on his part to make things more even between them. However, the moment is less romantic than Cushla would prefer because Michael is distracted by work. This is one example of how the conflict raging in their society impacts their relationship.

“He turned her face to his. Why the fuck are you crying?

Your language has really deteriorated since you met me.

What is it?

I got a weird feeling again. When you were singing that song.

He took the cigarette from her hand and smoked the last drag. You Catholics are highly suggestible, he said.”

The novel brims with witty banter, but a deep melancholy and ominous foreshadowing lie just beneath the surface of Cushla and Michael’s clever repartee in this scene. The song Cushla refers to is “When I Move to the Sky,” which gives Parts 4 and 5 their titles. Cushla’s “weird feeling” anticipates Michael’s death, and the song is sung at his cremation.

“Photographs, mug shots the police had taken, stark yet grainy. Their faces were unmarked, but all three were limp haired, hollowed out. Terrified. Polaroids of their naked bodies, torsos blotched with sprawling bruises, thighs slit with whip marks.”

This passage provides vivid details to depict police brutality toward suspected IRA members and to develop the theme of The Pervasiveness of Violence. Cushla sees the photographs in Michael’s files, which helps her understand why he is somber and drinking heavily.

“Joanna Agnew was sitting to Michael’s left. Cushla had not noticed her; not because she was tiny or nervy or plain, as she had visualized her. She had, rather, a ghostly serenity. A heart-shaped face. Auburn hair, very straight, cut in a bob to her chin. A camel-colored dress, well cut, expensive. A bruise on the back of her left hand with a small hole at its center, from a cannula or injection. She was beautiful.”

Cushla’s unexpected encounter with Michael’s wife and son advances the theme of Navigating Ethical Dilemmas. Although she previously felt little guilt about having an affair with a married man, meeting Joanna rattles Cushla. Additionally, Michael’s obvious shame during this scene shows that he is not immune to pangs of conscience even though this is not his first affair.

“It seemed now he had been directing things. Showing her where he lived after one month, giving her his number after two, a key after three. Leaving her waiting for days on end then reappearing, reeling her back with a trip to Dublin, an afternoon in his flat. An hour in his car, fucking her until she couldn’t think straight. She disliked that she was not the first, but the dawning knowledge that she wouldn’t be the last was killing her. As for Joanna. How seldom the woman had entered her head. She’d been an irritant, that was all. It had suited Cushla to think of her as unattractive and slovenly, to believe Michael was stuck in a miserable marriage, unable to leave his fuckup of a wife.”

Cushla’s chance meeting with Joanna casts her relationship with Michael in an unfavorable light while also overturning her own misogynistic attitudes, such as her assumption that Joanna was a “fuckup of a wife” who had trapped Michael in “a miserable marriage” (216). While the guilt Cushla feels toward Joanna remains tolerable to her, she is agonized by her newfound fear that she is replaceable—“the dawning knowledge that she wouldn’t be the last was killing her.” Cushla’s mental anguish develops the theme of Navigating Ethical Dilemmas.

“Was that why you were able to see me so often? Because she was in hospital and your son was at school.

Yes.

Have you had lots of affairs?

Three.

Jesus. Including me?

Apart from you. I don’t consider this an affair.

What the hell is it, then?

It’s different.”

Michael and Cushla’s exchange advances the themes of The Complexities of Relationships in a Divided Society and Navigating Ethical Dilemmas. Indeed, their relationship is so complex that, although Michael maintains that their situation is “different” from an affair, he is unable to provide a clear explanation. Cushla doesn’t entirely trust his words and struggles with the ethical dilemma posed by Michael’s family. Despite these obstacles and uncertainties, Cushla and Michael decide to remain together.

“The man who was shot dead in his bed shortly before eight this morning has been named. Michael Agnew, a senior counsel, was killed in front of his wife, said the newsreader.”

In one of the novel’s most important plot developments, Cushla learns of her lover’s death as a current event discussed at her family’s pub. The scene powerfully utilizes the news, which serves as a motif for the theme of The Pervasiveness of Violence.

“She saw him step across the gully, the shyness of him as he handed her the gorse. It was bad luck for the giver and receiver, he had said. Where was he now? On a cold table, someone in a mask picking fragments of shot from a brain that had, until yesterday, finished a crossword in minutes and argued in a court of law for a living. His body a piece of evidence now.”

After Michael’s death, Cushla revisits important places from their relationship, including the gully where he gave her a piece of gorse in Chapter 7. The plant symbolizes bad luck, and this foreshadowing is now fulfilled by Michael’s murder.

“An eighteen-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Michael Agnew, the prominent Belfast barrister shot dead at his home last week.

A man, Betty said, and began to weep.”

The scene in which Cushla and the McGeowns learn that Tommy has been charged with Michael’s murder touches on the themes of The Pervasiveness of Violence and Navigating Ethical Dilemmas. The protagonist places herself at great risk by aiding Tommy’s family, who are now seen as pariahs in the town. However, she ultimately decides to bring them to a relative rather than sheltering them herself due to pressure from her brother.