Beyond the Pale by William Trevor

...

- Themes

-Suicide: The red-haired man who committed suicide by jumping into the sea.

- Violence: The Irish History (when Ireland was conquered by England), and the aggressiveness of the three others against Cynthia at the end of the story.

- Adultery: There is a love story between Milly and Strafe (which is actually married to Cynthia).

- Holidays: Every year, the protagonists go on holiday at the same place, always in the same hotel. It’s a kind of tradition, and if they don’t, they feel like as they betray their hosts.

- Terrorism or terrorists: The girlfriend of the red-haired man was involved in terrorism during the conquest of Ireland.

- Homicide: When the unnamed killed his girlfriend.

- Irish people and Ireland: There are a lot of descriptions of Ireland. The author gave us a very good picture of Ireland. There also is a lot of information about the History of Ireland (the conquest, the battles, and people suffering).

- Symbols:

- Flowers: In the entire story, we find flowers. At the beginning, when they arrive in Ireland, there are flowers. In the hotel, they are flowers everywhere. Even the name of the rooms is related with flowers. It shows the beauty and the joy of the place.

- “The Glencorn Lodge”: The four friends always go on holiday at the same place. It’s a kind of loyalty to the Malseeds.

- The story: The story Cynthia tells the three others. It shows the pain of the red-haired man and also the story of the conquest of Ireland.

- Suicide: Another thing which shows the pain of the red-haired man and Ireland.

- Cynthia’s behaviour: In her entire life, Cynthia has been reserved and passive in front of her husband. She knew he had a relation with Milly but she never said anything. At the end of the story, she becomes a little insane due to the shock of the suicide she saw and reveals she knew it.

- Insanity: Cynthia’s insanity is also due to the suicide of the red-haired man who tells her a story about his pain.

- Accents: In the story, accents are often pointed. (American, Irish). It shows the difference between the people. The protagonists talk a lot of, for example, Irish jokes or Irish expressions.

- Compassion: Cynthia feels compassion for the Irish people who were “persecuted” by the British men, her ancestors.

- Books: Cynthia reads a lot of books. In the story, the books are synonyms of knowledge. Cynthia knows a lot about Irish society and also about places to visit.

- Routine: When they are on holiday, the four friends always visit the same things; they always play Bridge and so on.

- Reception: Their hosts greet them, they are nice, and Mrs. Malseed always comes to wish them good night. They are very polite with the four friends.

- The fact of realizing: When Milly finds out that Cynthia knew about her affair with Strafe.

- Traditions : They have their habits : playing cards, going shopping in Ardbeag.

- Innocence / adulthood: in the story the suicidal stranger tells, we can see the evolution of himself and the girl he loved, from childhood to adulthood.

- England: The story is told by British people, so we can see the British point of view.

- Hypocrisy: The fact that British people in the story pretend that the violence is not there is a proof of their hypocrisy.

- Card games: Milly, Dekko, Strafe and Cynthia always play Bridge together. It’s a sort of passion.

- Independence of Ireland

Before 1918, Ireland was under the control of Britain. The nineteenth century is marked by a massive emigration of the Irish to America. Irish people migrate to flee the famine in Ireland. They think that British people intentionally let them starve. There is a huge decrease of the Irish’s population between 1840 and the end of the nineteenth century. At the end of this century, people want their independence. Gradually, parts of land return to Irish people, after a series of reforms. In 1905, the “Sinn Féin”, an old party for independence is created. At the same time, James Conolly creates the first Irish socialist newspaper: “Worker’s Republic”. There is a development of trade unions. In 1914, the Home Rule (a project which aims to provide an internal independence to Ireland) develops. But the House of Lords and the outbreak of World War I prevent it from being put to work. In 1916, under the Irish Republican Brotherhood (organization revolutionary in Ireland), the Sinn Féin, and the Irish Citizen Army (self-defense militia) of James Conolly, the Easter Rising bursts in Dublin which proclaims the Republic in the name of God, but she was crushed after only one week. The Sinn Féin gets more popularity and wins the elections of December 1918. They constitute an Irish parliament and proclaim the independence of Ireland. The British power dissolved the Parliament. A rising bursts, which is going to last 3 years.

- Conclusion

“Beyond the pale” is a very interesting story because it taught us a lot about the Irish culture, about the Irish history, especially about the Irish conflicts. The Short story is much more complex than it seems and you really need to read between the lines. The story was written in a certain way that you don’t directly understand what Trevor is talking about. He wrote it that way because at that time, authors couldn’t write about the conflicts. It also taught us about mentalities in Northern Ireland, and the way that British consider Northern Ireland. They know that some conflicts are taking place, but they prefer acting like they don’t know about it. We can see that everyone is concerned about the history of Ireland because it shows how human beings can act. We can particularly feel the importance here, in Belgium, of learning about this, since we have some political problems as well, and we are divided into communities. The situation is not the same, but it is a kind of division. There’s always been conflicts between communities and there always will always be