Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
The novel is written in the context of IRA’s brutality.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narration
Tone and Mood
Moody, Sad, Resentful, Devastating
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Jean McConville, a mother of ten children.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is when IRA abducts Jean in front of her kids. The children never saw their mother alive again. People are fearful, and despite knowing that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) is responsible for her kidnapping, nobody dares to speak.
Climax
The climax is reached after thirty years when the children discover their mother's remains on the shoreline. The sad reality is that their mother was killed and dumped by the IRA.
Foreshadowing
The abduction of Jean foreshadows the dark future for her children. After her abduction, Jean’s children struggle alone under difficult circumstances.
Understatement
The IRA's kidnapping is understated. IRA did worst things than abductions, including torture, killings and other worse atrocities to those who tried to align with the British.
Allusions
The story is an illusion of the atrocities of the IRA as they fought to drive out the British colonizers.
Imagery
The images of Davis Flats and Jean’s physical appearance are imageries of sight used in the book.
Paradox
The main paradox is that Jean’s kidnappers were people well known to her.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
