Symbol: The Abattoir
The abattoir is a huge warehouse where animals are slaughtered. It is a place of killing and brutality. There is blood on the ground and on the hands of the workers. It is predominantly staffed by Catholics, including Shamie, Cal's father. It is also the first place where we meet Crilly, who is holding a knife in his hands. The abattoir symbolizes life in Ireland at this time, where the Republican faction is engaged in frequent violence to the point that it has lost its shock and tragedy. Likewise in the slaughterhouse, people are employed to kill and thus see it as something routine and necessary rather than gruesome.
It is revealed within the first pages of the story how Cal does not have the stomach to work at the abattoir, turning down a job offer that Shamie helped to secure. This refusal demonstrates Cal's sensitivity and aversion to violence. It also becomes more telling as the story progresses and we learn of Cal's implication in murder. From this we may infer that Cal's dislike of the place is also related to his lingering guilt about his own participation in bloodshed. And though Cal chooses not to work at the slaughterhouse, he is still hit with its smells each day when his father returns home. Similarly, Cal never wanted to be part of the IRA but felt he had no other choice.
Motif: Cigarettes
Smoking cigarettes is something Cal does constantly throughout the novel. On the first page where we meet Cal, he is at the abattoir asking Shamie to lend him a cigarette. In his ample time spent alone, Cal chain-smokes while playing guitar and deeply thinking. Cal and Marcella first kiss after smoking together; her desire to smoke surprises Cal and partly gives him the confidence to embrace her. Smoking for Cal, as well as the other characters, is clearly a coping mechanism, providing a reprieve of silence and peace from the chaos of their lives. For Cal, smoking is also tied to his guilt about his misdeeds, functioning as a nervous habit that distracts him from the seriousness of his situation. Smoking also ties him to the working-class life of IRA members like Crilly and Skeffington and his failed effort to quit after meeting Marcella shows much about his own internal difficulties to change himself.
Symbol: Crucifixion
The archetype of crucifixion appears frequently throughout the story. Cal constantly thinks about Christian martyrs, religious men and women who represent the idea that one can only find forgiveness and salvation after undergoing extreme suffering and hardship. To Cal, they are symbolic of what he is going through in his life and provide him hope that he may be able to achieve salvation despite his grave mistakes.
Most notably, Cal and Marcella have a conversation about the crucifixion painting that hangs in their Catholic church; Marcella dislikes the image, seeing it as overly cartoonish and lacking the emotional depth of Grünewald's grisly portrayal. Later, Cal gifts a book of Grünewald art to Marcella. The fascination with Christ's death, which is seen by many Christians as a sacrifice made to atone for the world's sins, speaks to the characters' deep suffering that they try to make sense of through a religious framework.
Cal especially possesses a deep self-hatred that expresses itself as an almost masochistic need for punishing himself; by choosing to pursue Marcella, for example, he knowingly sets himself up for heartbreak and ruin. When Cal is arrested by the police at the end of the story, he notes his relief at finally receiving the punishment he felt he deserved. Despite Cal's unquestionable "sin," he proves himself to be his own worst critic and judge, avoiding the self-forgiveness alluded to in the sign Cal sees after the mine explodes, which reads: "the kingdom of God is within you."
Symbol: The Gun
Guns are seen by many characters in Cal as necessary during times of war. Crilly is always armed when he and Cal go out to rob or kill. He gives a gun to Cal and Shamie so that they may protect themselves from the looming threat of the Loyalist army. On certain nights, Shamie keeps this gun close at hand so that he may sleep in peace. Thus the gun symbolizes the idea of protection that comes from a deep sense of fear and paranoia about one's fellow men. Furthermore, the gun stands for the troubles that Cal has gotten himself into, as he constantly has to worry about whether someone will find it and arrest him, such as when the police search his cottage.
Motif: The Beginning of the Universe
Twice within the story Cal thinks about the "event which began the Universe" while deep in his inner monologue. He recalls hearing one time on the radio about how the universe began with an "unimaginable explosion" and how static can be heard emanating from this original moment as its "dying echoes." He thinks of this again at a soccer game, likening the echoing static to his own misdeeds which now are a permanent fixture in his life. This comparison illustrates how Cal sees his mistakes as something irrevocable. As a motif, this also shows Cal's effort to look to the larger picture of life in order to find comfort as well as to make sense of the gravity of his actions.
