Cal, By Bernard Mac Laverty

In the novel Cal, the author Bernard Mac Laverty has used different settings to influence the reader to respond in certain ways to the ideas presented. The ideas that are raised in this short, but inspiring story are love, compassion, depression, truth, the dehumanisation of humans and the loss of innocence at war, fear and religious hate and finding ones own sanctuary from life’s miseries. Maclaverty expresses these ideas very effectively throughout the novel and conjures certain emotional responses from the reader towards the ideas raised. He does this through the different settings in the novel such as the library, where we are introduced the ideas of love and innocence and then the abattoir where the reader is confronted with death and killing. The church, the derelict cottage and Cal Mc Luskey’s are also settings used by Mac Laverty to influence the reader to respond to the ideas raised.

Throughout this novel we come across many locations where important events take plac...