Lecture D'un Livre

[Fanchette]

Voilà, je suis en ce moment en vacances , et j'ai à lire "Across the barricades" avant le 16juin pour pouvoir rédiger mon travail de section européenne, or je n'ai pas pris mon livre avec moi . Je ne pourrai donc pas finir mon livre à temps, quelqu'un pourrait-il me dire le résumé pour que je puisse travailler avec? Merci

[yveslouis]

Voici ce que j'ai trouvé sur internet :

Summary

This story is about two young people living in Belfast. The girl, Sadie, is a Protestant and the boy, Kevin, is a Catholic. They have been friends for years.

At the beginning of the story they have just met again. Even through they know that their relationship is dangerous, because there are a lot of conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, they decide to stay together. Their parents don’t support the relationship, so

Kevin and Sadie tell lies to their families and meet secretly. The situation is becoming more dangerous than even; the fights between Catholics and Protestants are more and more violent: Pubs are in flames, insults are written on the walls and the Two Sides fight each other to death.

Mr Blake is an old Protestant widower, who lives outside the city in a big house, alone with his dog. He is a friend of Sadie’s. Sadie trusts him and tells him about all her problems with Kevin. Even though Mr Blake is a Protestant and knows Sadie’s family very well, he’s for

peace. And so he agrees to help them. He gives them the opportunity to see each other in his house. Sadie decides to leave her job, because many people criticize her for going out with a Catholic boy. Sadie and Kevin often meet at Mr Blake’s house. One day Mr Blake

invites them to a trip to the country in his car. Suddenly the wheels of Mr Blake’s car come loose and they have an accident. Mr Blake is injured and has to be taken to hospital.

Sadie and Kevin want to know who is the responsible. They have many suspicions but no proof. Kevin realizes that it may be him who is the cause of their problems. Before the accident he fell out with his old Catholic friend, because he didn’t want to fight against

Protestants. The troubles are going on; more and more people are victims of this religions conflict.

At the end of this tragic <war and love> story Mr Blake dies. A killer throws a bomb into his house. Kevin feels depressed and guilty, so he decides to leave the city for another place to live. Sadie follows him secretly… On the ferry to England they find each other again.

EXTRACT

“I wouldn’t want it back now anyway,” said Kevin.

“Not after what’s happened.”

“And what are you going to do?” asked his father.

“We‘ve another mouth to feed in this family now.”

“I’ll go down to the Labour Exchange in the morning and see what they’ve got.”

It did not take long to find out. They were sorry but they had nothing at all that they could offer him. He was not apprenticed, he had no trade, three years in the scrap business was not much of a help for anything else, there were not many scrap yards in the city and no one was asking for labour, and unemployment in the province was high, as he must know. Kevin nodded at each piece of information. Before he had gone he had had no hope. He would have to draw the dole and from time to time he might get some casual labouring to do.

He was out of work. The full realization of it dawned upon him as he walked around the City Hall. Days to fill. He was too restless to lean on street corners with the others. He would walk for miles and end up wearing out shoe leather and that would cost money. Money… There was seldom enough to go around anyway. And he would have little to spend on himself.

He thought of Sadie and Mr Blake and wished that he could go out and see them. For a moment he was tempted, but then his resolve hardened and he thought, no, he must not go, he must leave them alone. That way they, at least, might get peace

My opinion

I have found this book very interesting because I like eventful topical subjects.

The writer uses a good language for a love story: She uses few and simple words to express deep feelings. With the example of the two families she shows very well the different mentalities of the two religions. She deals with the problem of Northern Ireland very seriously and gives the reader an idea of its hard reality.

When I read this story and tragic things happened I felt involved and cried with the characters. Fortunately after all these sad events there is a happy ending, and this gives hope.

The Northern Ireland Conflict

Why is the conflict referred to as ‘the Troubles’?

‘The Troubles’ is a euphemism that is commonly used in Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, to refer to the most recent of civil and political unrest, and violent political conflict (from 1968 to the present). The term has been used in the past to refer to other periods of conflict particularly the Anglo-Irish War (or the War of Independence, 1919-1921). The term ‘Troubles’ was frequently used in a social context at ‘wakes’ or funerals where people who wanted to express condolence would often say “sorry for your troubles” to the relatives and friends of the deceased. It may be that the use of the term was extended from this context to cover wider social and political

conflicts.

When did the conflict begin?

Even with over 30 years of hindsight there is no absolute agreement on the date of the start of the recent violent conflict in Northern Ireland. A number of dates have been used by different writers: the Civil Rights March in Derry – 5 October 1968; the beginning of the ‘Battle of the Bogside’ – 12 August 1969; the deployment of British Troops – 14 August 1969; or the re-emergence of the UVF in 1966. (Non-violent conflict – political conflicts, economic conflict, etc., - have been a feature of society in the region since the early part of the 17th century. On numerous occasions this conflict has resulted in periods of serious and sustained violence.)

What is the main reason of all the trouble in Northern Ireland? Is religion a big part of it?

The conflict in Northern Ireland is usually explained in terms of the different constitutional aspirations of the two main sections of the community in the region. Many Catholics consider themselves to be Irish and are Nationalist in political outlook, that is, they would like to see the whole island of Ireland reunited (and independent of Britain). Most Protestants consider themselves to be British and are Unionist in political outlook, that is, they want Northern Ireland to remain part of the (union of the) United Kingdom (UK) of Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) and Northern Ireland.

The correspondence between religion, culture, and political outlook is the result of a historical accident. During the ‘Plantation of Ulster’ in the early 17th century the Scottish and English settlers, who moved to the north-east of Ireland to take ownership of confiscated lands, were Protestants and had strong cultural ties with England and Scotland. The native Irish who were forced from their land were Catholic and culturally Irish. Although religion was not the determining factor in the conflict between the people living in the region, it has a special significance as it was used as a marker to distinguish and discriminate between sections of the community. As a consequence of

the plantation Protestants acquired land and wealth. Various pieces of legislation were introduced to reduce the status of Catholics. The inequalities between the two sections of the population persisted to the late 1960s and were the main cause of the Civil Rights Movement that eventually led to the re-emergence of violent conflict.

Is the conflict over?

Many people believe that the current period of violent conflict, ‘the Troubles’, in Northern Ireland is (almost) at an end. However, Northern Ireland in recent years has experienced continuing violence not only from those paramilitary organisations which are ‘active’ (that is, did not declare a ceasefire - IRA; CIRA; RHD; OV), but also from some organisations which are supposed to be on ceasefire (UDA, UFF, LVF, IRA). So the period of ‚peace’ since the first ceasefires (which were broken and renewed by some organisations has been an imperfect one.

However, conflict (in the form of political conflict, economic conflict, etc. ) between the two main communities has a long history, almost 400 years. There have been many bouts of violent conflict in the past and there is no guarantee that people will not resort to violence in the future. Simply on the basis of previous experience one would have to say that another period of violence is a possibility. In the meantime Northern Ireland is likely to continue to experience an imperfect peace. It will require a fundamental shift in the nature of the relationship between unionists and nationalists in the region for violence to be avoided in the future.

When did the current violent conflict end?

It may prove as difficult to agree on a date for the end of ‘the Troubles’ as it is to agree on the date of beginning of the violent conflict. There have been a number of significant events and development: the second IRA ceasefire - 20 July 1997; the Good Friday Agreement -10 April 1998; Referendum on the Agreement - Friday 22 May 1998; the first meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly – Wednesday 1 July 1998; the Armagh Bomb – Saturday 15 August 1998; the beginning of the new Devolved Government – Thursday 2 December 1999.

Is the future to be based on equality?

Protestants are still the majority of the Northern Ireland population; at the 1991 Census the estimate was 58 per cent with 42 per cent Catholic (based on revised figures). The Catholic population is continuing to grow although there is uncertainty about when Catholics

will form a majority of the population. There is speculation that the Religion Report of the 2001 Census will show the Catholic population at 45 or 46 per cent of the population. There is evidence that among the current (2002) under-16 school population 50.66 per cent of children are Catholic (Department of Education Northern Ireland).

While ‘majority rule’ appeals to some in the Protestant community it has certain drawbacks as the size of the two communities draw closer to 50 per cent. The most important disadvantage is that a community that holds all the power on one day could find itself with none following a small change in voting patterns. For this and other reasons many people argue for the sharing of power. In the case of Northern Ireland there is a strong case for that sharing to be done on an equal basis regardless of the size of the respective communities. Just recently there have been some interesting examples of equality of treatment. More as a result of voting patterns then by design

the new Executive has six Unionists and six Nationalists members (First Minister, Deputy First Minister, and ten Department Ministers). The Patten Commission on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) recommended that recruitment in the future should be on a 50 per cent Catholic and 50 per cent Protestants basis.

http://www.gymmuenchenstein.ch/stalder/1fi...des.htm#summary

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[yveslouis]

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