Big Troubles in Northern Ireland: The Conflicted Character of Cal Anonymous College

Bernard MacLaverty’s Cal explores the intense conflict between the Roman Catholic nationalist party and the Protestant British police forces of northern Ireland in the late 20th century. MacLaverty tells the story of Ireland’s most violent period through the teenaged protagonist, Cal, who gets unwillingly roped into helping the IRA, and subsequently faces his own internal torment after assisting in the murder of Robert Morton, a Protestant reserve policeman. Cal’s guilt-ridden conscience and desire for redemption drive the plot of the novel forward and come to a head when he develops feelings for Marcella Morton, whom he becomes infatuated with upon learning her status as Robert’s widowed wife. His obsession grows once he begins work on the very farm where Marcella lives, and through their budding relationship Cal comes to the realization that Marcella is the only one who can grant him salvation from his crime, as it is with her and only her that his constant suffering and self-hatred is at ease. As Peter Mahon observes in his long form on Cal entitled “Blood, Shit and Tears,” MacLaverty employs vivid, animalistic imagery and religious allegory to illustrate Cal’s inner turmoil over his reluctant participation in ideological...