How Cal Experiences and All the Difficulties He Has to Face Makes You Feel Sympathetic Towards Him
During the novel ‘CAL’ written by Bernard Maclavery that takes place in Northern Ireland. The young Irishman Cal lives with his father Shamie who are both catholics. They live in a town near Belfast in which mainly Protestants live. Cal's mother died when he was 8 years old.Cal faces many hardships and life difficulties throughout. Maclavery uses ways in which we feel the innocence of Cal and that we feel sympathetic towards him.
The book first introduces his relationship with his father. Shamie, who works in the local abattoir. Maclaverty displays the arrogance and stubbornness of Shamie towards the Protestants. Even though he and Cal receive many of letters of threat, he still refuses to move out off the street, even if it does endanger Cal’s safety. This then shows us the bond between Cal and his father. They don’t have a strong bond as they both lead totally different life’s and hardly ever talk. The main time they are together is when Cal makes the dinner and they eat together. After the fire Cal moves out to get away from daily conflicts and threats. Cal does not make allot of effort to get into contact with Shamie allot. Cal has isolated himself very much and couldn’t really speak to his dad as father and son. As time goes by, Shamie becomes mentally ill. Which for anyone would be hard. Maclaverty uses real life situations to connect to people’s emotions. This instantly makes you feel connected to the character and share sympathy towards him. However the relationship with his father is not only one of the many difficulties that Cal faces. His religion puts Cal into many awkward situations. Maclaverty makes it clear to the reader that Cal does not want to be a part of these situations. The writer situates Cal in the all Protestant town to show the isolation that Cal is in. His religion also makes work hard to find. So financially Cal is not very well off. Cal is friends with Crilly who is also a
The book first introduces his relationship with his father. Shamie, who works in the local abattoir. Maclaverty displays the arrogance and stubbornness of Shamie towards the Protestants. Even though he and Cal receive many of letters of threat, he still refuses to move out off the street, even if it does endanger Cal’s safety. This then shows us the bond between Cal and his father. They don’t have a strong bond as they both lead totally different life’s and hardly ever talk. The main time they are together is when Cal makes the dinner and they eat together. After the fire Cal moves out to get away from daily conflicts and threats. Cal does not make allot of effort to get into contact with Shamie allot. Cal has isolated himself very much and couldn’t really speak to his dad as father and son. As time goes by, Shamie becomes mentally ill. Which for anyone would be hard. Maclaverty uses real life situations to connect to people’s emotions. This instantly makes you feel connected to the character and share sympathy towards him. However the relationship with his father is not only one of the many difficulties that Cal faces. His religion puts Cal into many awkward situations. Maclaverty makes it clear to the reader that Cal does not want to be a part of these situations. The writer situates Cal in the all Protestant town to show the isolation that Cal is in. His religion also makes work hard to find. So financially Cal is not very well off. Cal is friends with Crilly who is also a