The tensions between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland dates back as far as the 1500’s. The majority of Northern Ireland’s population are Protestants, who want to remain a part of Great Britain. Despite this, a Catholic minority are fighting to become a part of the Republic of Ireland. This situation combined with conflicts between religious beliefs has caused centuries of tension. Tensions our main character, Chrissy, becomes a victim of.
“Good Girl”, is written by Marita Conlon-McKenna. It is told with an omniscient narrator and the main theme is religion. The story takes place in Ireland. Chrissy’ family is Catholic, and lives in a Catholic part of the town. Due to the hatred between the Protestants and Catholics it would be unlikely for the two groups to live in the same areas of town therefore are there areas for Protestants and areas for Catholics. The main character in the short-story is Chrissy. She is a young Catholic girl with long auburn hair. Chrissy studies at the local Catholic school and therefore a teenager. Chrissy lives with her parents and her two sisters. Gemma is her younger sister. She is a classic little sister, who copies and wants to be like her older sister. An example of this is when Chrissy is getting ready before the date, Gemma is watching her with “eyes filled with idle curiosity” and that she is sneaking Chrissy’s perfume and nail polish. But Chrissy is clearly frustrated and annoyed with this curiosity from her sister. She thinks that she is a brat and is in general impolite towards her little sister. Then there is Anna who is her older sister. She is 19 years old and studies history and politics at Queens University. Anna has a boyfriend named Ray, and they have plans to get married in nearest future. She seems to be an intelligent, caring and sensitive sister. She checks up on Chrissy’s school and her homework and tells her to be careful when she leaves the house. Nevertheless, Chrissy just shrugs and then gives us an insight of what she thinks of the sister; A boring “old fogey”. The rebellious Chrissy shows no respect towards her loving older sister. Chrissy is dating Ian. He is a protestant and studies at the Protestant grammar school. She describes him as a good looking boy with clear skin, blue eyes and with good manners. He also wore nice clothes and smelled of expensive aftershave. Chrissy should be aware of his religion, since they met at a Programme for Mutual Understanding where her school was together with a protestant school, but she is still dating him even though it’s not acceptable for a Catholic to date a Protestant in Ireland. This is probably why Chrissy hasn’t met Ian’s parents. He is simply afraid of them finding out that he is dating a Catholic girl. As Chrissy waits outside a shop for her date, Ian, Eilish Dunne shows up. Eilish is a short girl with peroxide-blonde hair and is a year ahead of Chrissy in school. Eilish has a chip on her shoulder and blames everyone for the fact that her father is serving prison. She and two other girls believe that Ian’s father was responsibly for the imprisonment. Eilish has the hatred towards Protestants running in her veins and she knows that Chrissy is dating one. Eilish is acting polite towards Chrissy, cajoling Chrissy to walk with her to the lakeshore where she says Ian is waiting. When they get to the lake Chrissy’s fear becomes reality. The three girls trap her inside an old boathouse where they constantly torture her. They continuously burn her with their cigarettes and afterwards cutting her clothes to pieces, scalping her and cutting her with blades. During the torture the girls ask her if she will be a “good girl”, which is the title of the short-story, and leave her Protestant boyfriend. about the religious tensions in Northern Ireland. The text describes how great a conflict within a country can have on the people living there. Even on young people. Chrissy clearly loves Ian but her love is drowned by manipulation of hatred by other people. The other girls convince Chrissy into thinking that it is wrong to date a Protestant. They make her believe that humans with different religions are unequal. If a boys/girls childhood is filled with hatred, in this case towards Protestants/Catholics, it can follow the boy/girl for the rest of their life. I think that Eilish is a great example of this. She was probably raised feeling the parent’s hatred towards Protestants and the hatred has reflected on to her. In her adolescence the hatred has built so strong that she will torture another girl to make her stop seeing a boy, just because he is Protestant.
The tensions in Northern Ireland will continue for years to come. For a conflict between two groups to discontinue, acceptance and respect is essential and I think that it will take many years before this relationship between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland will improve.