Across the Barricades is a novel written by Joan Lingard.

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Across the Barricades is a novel written by Joan Lingard.

Across The Barricades

'Across the Barricades' is a novel written by Joan Lingard. It is set

in the Belfast area in the 1970's. Catholics want Ireland to be all

together and one country while Protestants want The Northern Ireland

to stay part of Britain. The plot is about 'The Troubles' and a

Protestant girl in love with a Catholic boy. Sadie (Protestant) and

Kevin (Catholic) are separated by the divide. They meet (they used to

know each other a while ago) and become close. This upsets their

families and friends because they are from different sides of the

divide. Kevin and Sadie get threats and Kevin gets beaten up as a

result of this. Sadie know Mr Blake from high school. When Kevin goes

to see Sadie, Mr Blake sees that Kevin is in need and so takes Sadie

and Kevin to his house. After some time, Mr Blake gets too involved

and so gets threats, nearly killed in a car and eventually killed by a

petrol bomb. Kevin and Sadie become sick of Belfast and the violence

and so leave. Kevin and Sadie realize that 'The Troubles' aren't going

to go away and that there's no hope for change in the future.

In this paragraph the importance of the characters will be discussed.

Kevin McCoy is Catholic and works in Mr Kelly's scrapyard. Kate Kelly

likes Kevin but Kevin loves Sadie. "Kate tried to cling to Kevin but

most of the time she irritated him". Kate thus tries to get Kevin into

trouble by telling the police about Brian's gun. "Underneath was a

rifle and several rounds of ammunition. Brian wanted Kevin to rebel

against the Protestants and use the gun but Kevin had rejected his

thoughts. Brian then hid the gun in Mr Kelly's scrapyard. Kevin is

then blamed f...

... middle of paper ...

...escribes the violence. "There were disturbances in

the night. Sound of gunfire, rumble of cars, shouting in the distance,

flicker of flames against the night sky". This is a good example of

imagery.

I think the author is trying to imply that 'The Troubles' are not

going to go away but will get worse by the language she uses to

describe the areas and the activities. There are constant bombings and

Mr Blake dies. Catholics and Protestants just send a bomb back every

time something happens. Just now the violence has got worse, Joan

Lingard was right!

I don't think that the violence is going to get better because the

deaths are constant as well as the trouble, people are trying to

follow their beliefs by killing other people. There is always going to

be the divide. Kevin and Sadie were right to leave, they realized that

'The Troubles' were getting worse.

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