Specialist study on Cal by Bernarn MacLaverty
Task: An exploration of the techniques used in "Cal" by the author, Bernard MacLaverty, to create a sympathetic main character and his contribution to the theme of guilt.In the novel "Cal" by Bernard MacLaverty, Cal McCluskey, a young man living in Northern Ireland, is faced with a horrible situation in which he is involved with the murder of a policeman. The plot follows Cal in his struggle to come to terms with the atrocity in which he has become entangled. During the novel, the author used several techniques that made me feel great pity for the main character but I also felt he had to pay for the sin he had committed. It is for these reasons that I am going to explore the techniques used by the author to create a character that the reader can feel sorry for, who contributes significantly to the theme of guilt in the novel, by considering the author's use of structure, including how the ending contributed to the resolution of guilt and the relationship developed between Cal and Marcella. The structure of the novel plays a key part in the representation of Cal throughout the novel. Of the five sections in the novel, the first two are used as a build up of tension and as a background to
This enables the reader to understand the tough life that Cal has to endure as it is also made apparent that he does not get on very well with his father. Even as he does this Cal feels disgusted with himself yet he continues to watch her. The answer to the question is no it does not, and this then allows the reader to fully understand the distressing feeling of guilt that Cal contains within himself and why he desperately seeks redemption for his sins. Marcella is the wife of the policeman that Cal was involved in murdering and he falls completely in love with her. Cal does eventually develop a relationship with Marcella but it is evident that it is doomed from the outset as the entire relationship is built on a foundation of lies and deception. Although Cal is an ordinary person trapped in extraordinary circumstances, he has still taken part in a terrible crime for which he needs to suffer the consequences. The first of these is when he sits on a roof outside her bathroom as she takes a shower. The novel then ends with Cal being arrested and finally being "grateful that at last someone was going to beat him to within an inch of his life. Cal is a Catholic teenager living in a predominantly Protestant housing estate which helps the reader to feel pity for him as this is not a very enviable position to be put in as his life is at great risk everyday. Yet, even though this is not only apparent to the reader but to Cal as well, he still makes an attempt to continue with it and pretend that he, Marcella and her daughter are just another ordinary happy family. "This is clear evidence that the relationship will not last as Cal feels so much guilt that he is unable to even look at Marcella without remembering all the lies he is keeping locked away from her and this again effectively creates sympathy for Cal as his troubled life is not going to ever be straightened out until he finds redemption for his sins. It is not until the third section that the deed is revealed to the reader, yet Cal is not condemned because of the strong feeling of pity created by the slow release of information by the author. In the fourth and fifth sections there is no longer a need for the controlled release of information as the deed has already been revealed.
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Acceptance Essays
