Catholic Ireland
In Chapter 2, Cal drives 60 miles to a village called Clones, where he attends a soccer match. As he arrives there, he immediately feels a burst of freedom and the sensation of being in the "real Ireland." Imagery is used to contrast the two versions of Ireland, with the Protestant side where Cal lives having a sense of "weight and darkness," occupied by "its neat stifled Sabbath towns." Conversely, the Catholic Clones is illustrated as a vibrant and bustling locale where cars are decorated with "red and white scarves" and the soccer game is populated by a colorful slew of characters: "tubby balding men...abattoir men, fishmongers, laboratory assistants." For Cal, the lone Catholic in a Protestant area, it is comforting to be again among others like himself.
Potato Farming
Cal is invited by Mrs. Morton to work for a few days harvesting potatoes on the farm. Alongside other teenagers, Cal goes to the grueling job each day, which is portrayed as dull and unenjoyable. They must work in a "fine drizzle of rain" where their "fingers became like sausages with the cold." The dreariness of the landscape is reflected by the only color out on the fields—the "red and blue of the plastic baskets they were collecting into." Despite the drudgery of the work, Cal comes to appreciate having something to occupy his time with; this later leads him to being offered a regular job by Mrs. Morton.
Abattoir
Cal begins at the scene of the slaughterhouse where Shamie works. The grotesque smells of the place repulse Cal, but he is there to borrow a cigarette from his father. The vision of "hanging carcasses" and the "queuing beasts bellow[ing]" nauseates Cal, who recently turned down a job at the slaughterhouse. This sort of imagery appearing in the first pages of the novel serves to foreshadow the violence subject matter to come.
Burnt House
After the UVF burns down the McCluskey house, Cal and Shamie flee to stay with a cousin. However, when Cal remembers he has left the gun in his bedroom, he races back to salvage the weapon before the police find it. Upon entering the destroyed house, Cal is shocked to see the level of damage, especially in his room where his favorite possessions have been scorched. His tape cassettes have become "warped lumps" and his plastic lampshade "a stalactite hanging from the ceiling." The blackened, melted scene drives home the seriousness of the conflict, where opposing gangs are willing to ruin each other's lives without remorse.
