<FONT SIZE = 4>Chapter 76 – Priest’s Confession</FONT> -- Shamrocks & Stones

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Date Posted: 18:31:39 07/30/12 Mon
Author: Carla
Subject: Chapter 76 – Priest’s Confession

Casey goes to see Father Jim, heavy with secrets he hasn’t told Pamela – of the eyes watching him on the streets, men who no longer stop for a friendly word, his birth & death dates painted on the wall of his boyhood home, a sense of danger beyond the men looking for protection money. He hands the priest the letter he has written for Jamie, prompting the question : "Now tell me, Casey, is something likely to happen to you?"

Father Jim makes a confession of his own, that he was brought into the countryside to take the last confession of a young man he knew & had helped get on his feet, who was now to be killed by the IRA. The two men talk of the insanity that is life in Northern Ireland and Belfast in particular, of the draw of loyality and land, the lure of the IRA and other militant groups for the young. In the end, Father Jim advises Casey to leave, but Casey says he cannot, that he has a family to raise there.

As he about to leave, Casey stops and tells Father Jim he has one more thing to tell him, this one under the seal of the confessional.

Q.1 Would you do as Casey & Father Jim and stay in a place you loved so dearly under the conditions that prevailed in Belfast at the time ?
Q2. What do you think Casey tells Father Jim at the end ?

From the Journals of James Kirkpatrick, November 11, 1972

We see Jamie on his last night at home, as he reflects back on other magical nights spent there and one in particular when he ran away and spent an enchanted night in the woods as a 10 year old. He reflects that "each man has his own geography, one that lies inside within the vast country of a human soul. It is an unknown land, even at the very last . . . "

Q.1 Do you think Jamie means this "vast country of the human soul" is unknown even to the possessor of that soul, unknown to others or both?
Q2. Did Jamie write this knowing he might not be back home ever? Or was he simply in an introspective mood on the eve of a long trip, first to Hong Kong and then to the Soviet Union?

Chapter 77 – His Father’s Son, October 1975

Pamela is being actively considered as a suspect in the fire and death at the distillery, an act she feels Lucien Broughton had a hand in perpetrating. She finds comfort and solace in Jamie’s journals, in the daily details as well as the pearls of beauty and wisdom. As Pamela gets ready to head home, Julian comes into the study and makes himself at home – something he’s done in the whole house in the last couple of days. He now knows he’s Jamie’s son and has hired a solicitor. Again, Pamela suspects the Lucien is behind the whole thing. Over tea, Julian asks Pamela if she will be his lover, as she has been his father’s, once everything is turned over to him. Pamela, staying remarkably cool on the outside, tells him she is married and there is only her husband in her life. Julian implies that this has not always been so. Pat is rattled, but states that she is not alone, that others stand with her even if they aren’t in the room at the moment. Julian leaves on a threat and Pamela sorrows for the man he might have become if he’d been raised by Jamie.

Q1. Will there be redemption for Julian, will Jamie be able to win him over and bring out the goodness in him, or is he too far gone to be brought back to decency ?
Q2. Pamela talks of having to school herself from the warmth she feels upon seeing Julian simply due to his physical likeness to Jamie and of Maggie having fallen for him for the same reason. Would their feelings for him be different if he didn’t so resemble Jamie ?

Chapter 78 – Drawing Down the Moon

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Casey comes home from work to find his mother settled in the kitchen with Pamela and the children. He confronts Pamela outside and she tells him as this is the only grandparent their children have, she feels they should have some small measure of contact with her. Casey reluctantly agrees. Outside for a smoke after dinner, his mother comes to talk, telling him she knows she can never make up for leaving them, but would like to be part of the children’s lives. Casey, knowing he is being stubborn and unforgiving, but unable to help himself, reluctantly agrees. There are questions he’d like to ask about his father, but the words won’t come.

On a frosty night with a full moon, Casey takes his family into the woods to show them the house he has built for the Auld Ones. Pamela and Connor are filled with wonder at the beauty of what Casey has created. Pamela reads the titles on the spines of tiny books and knows that Casey has done this for her. Casey "brings the moon down" for Connor, just as his own father used to do for him. Later he tells Pamela he has built the fairy house for her, to bring magic and wonderment to the woman who was lonelier as a child than the woman will admit.

Q1. Casey seems to have a much harder time with his mother than Pat does. Why do you think this is ?
Q2. Casey is such a practical man on a day-to-day basis and yet he creates magic for his family in moments like these. He clearly gets such things from his father, who brought magic into his sons’ lives. What else do you think motivates him to make these gestures, to work so hard to bring magic into the lives of his family ?

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