39 pages • 1 hour read
Seamus DeaneReading in the Dark
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1996A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 2 Summary
Fire, June 1949
The narrator describes the different kinds of bonfires that Protestants and Catholics host in Derry. While the Protestants host many, official fires, the Catholics host only one religious bonfire on August 15, which is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The narrator also describes the ruined distillery where Eddie worked and where he supposedly disappeared after a shoot-out.
American Cities, September 1949
The narrator muses on American cities, noting that Chicago is a “place I longed to see” (37). Like Derry, Chicago had a fire, and the narrator is intrigued by it. He discusses American cities with his uncles, and they discuss the “Big Blue Yonder,” meaning ultimate destruction (37). Another uncle of the narrator, Tony McIlhenny, moved to Chicago years ago. The uncles suggest that Tony may have seen Uncle Eddie there, but this is not confirmed.
Blood, October 1949
The narrator’s Aunt Ena, who is sick, starts coughing up blood. When a priest arrives to administer to her, the narrator goes home to summon his father. Ena dies, and the family attends her funeral. There, the narrator and Liam overhear funeral attendants talking about Uncle Eddie. According to the attendants, Eddie resembled his sister Bernadette. The narrator presses his mother for more details about Uncle Eddie, but she evades him.
The Feud, February 1950
The narrator’s father recalls the farmhouse he used to live in with his family. When his parents fell ill, they were taken away to the Fever Hospital where they died shortly afterward. Eddie, the eldest brother, “went away, without warning,” and the narrator’s father, at the age of 12, was left in charge of the family (46). The family assumes that Eddie enlists with the IRA. His sisters Bernadette and Ena go to live with relatives, and the narrator’s father gets a job as a messenger boy before training as a boxer. Finally, he takes a job as an electrician’s assistant.
The Fort, June 1950
The narrator describes Derry as “border country” that is right next to the “Free State” of Ireland (48). The narrator and Liam climb up to an old fort called Grianan where they can look down at Donegal. Their family originally came from Donegal, but, due to a mysterious feud, their father decided to move the family and never return to the family’s old farmhouse. The narrator thinks that the feud started when Ena and Bernadette went to live with relatives. Under the care of their relatives, they were treated like servants and were not allowed to sleep in the house.
Field of the Disappeared, August 1950
The family goes on holiday to Buncrana, Donegal, but they avoid the “feud-farm” (52). Along with his father and Liam, the narrator goes on a walk to see the Field of the Disappeared. According to local lore, all men who disappear without receiving a Christian burial gather in the field three or four times a year and cry out. Anyone who enters the field becomes like the lost men.
Grianan, September 1950
According to legend, if someone enters Grianan and makes a special wish, he can rouse the “sleeping warriors of the legendary Fianna who lay below” (56). The narrator and his friends often play there in the summer. One day, his friends lock him in a secret passageway in the fort, and he listens for the breathing of the Fianna.
Katie’s Story, October 1950
The narrator describes his Aunt Katie, his mother’s sister. Her husband, Tony McIlhenny, disappeared when she was pregnant with their daughter. She often visits with the narrator’s family, helps around their house, and tells the children stories.
One day, Katie tells a story about a woman called Brigid McLaughlin who was hired to take care of a girl and a boy, Frances and Francis. In the story, the children’s parents are dead, and every day they insist on going out and sitting next to their parents’ graves in the yard. One day, Brigid forbids them from visiting the graves, and a series of supernatural events occur. The children start to switch characteristics, starting with their hair colors. Brigid takes them to a priest, but their hair colors revert back to normal before the priest sees their switched hair colors. After that, they switch many other characteristics, such as eye color, gender, and teeth. Brigid “knew now she was being challenged by evil, and the children were being stolen from her by whatever was in that grave out the back” (67). One day, the children have no reflection in the mirror. On November 21, the date of their parents’ death, the clock stops at 10:00 a.m. That night, the children begin singing and disappear. Brigid and the priest see them standing over their parents’ graves in a green light.
Chapter 2 Analysis
Deane uses this chapter to delve into the theme of political power structures. Derry is a “border country,” abutting the free state of Ireland (48), which infuses the story’s setting with tension. The narrator’s community is also charged with political conflict. Deane notes, “It was a city of bonfires” where Nationalist Catholics and Unionist Protestants host separate bonfires (31). Back when the new state was founded in 1922, there was a “last minute protest at the founding of the new state” (34). During the protest, a shoot-out occurs at the distillery. Uncle Eddie disappears after the shoot-out. Here, the narrator’s family secret is embedded in the political history of the country. Political turmoil is a part of everyday life in Derry. It is something that the narrator has grown up with and does not question.
Deane also explores the secrecy of the narrator’s family throughout this section. Uncle Eddie’s disappearance is still a mystery, and the narrator longs to learn more about him. At Ena’s funeral, he overhears some remarks about Eddie’s physical appearance, which he attempts to verify with his mother. She evades his questions, thus maintaining the secrecy surrounding Eddie. Yet the narrator cannot forget his uncle, and he notes, “I felt we lived in an empty space with a long cry from him ramifying through it” (42). Though Eddie is gone, the memory of him remains in a haunting and disruptive way for the family.
The family’s secrecy deepens when the narrator begins to unearth the origins of a family feud. The narrator’s family used to live in Donegal, but they never return to their original family home because of a rift in his father’s family. The exact nature of the feud is unclear in the text, but the narrator suggests that it started after his grandparents’ death. At that time, his two aunts were treated like “skivvies” by family members, and they were not allowed to live in the house (50). The narrator’s father refuses to go into detail about the feud, and the narrator is left to guess about it. When the family goes on holiday to Donegal, they avoid their original farmhouse, unwilling to confront the trauma they experienced there.
Finally, the color red is a motif throughout this section. When describing Derry’s bonfires, the narrator states, “Fire was what I loved to hear of and to see” (31). Here, the fire represents the pervasive violence that is inherent in Derry. Due to political conflict, the city is never at rest. Red also signifies the illnesses and the abject conditions that many people in the community face. When Ena is ill, the narrator notes, “She coughed. Crimson sparks landed all over her grey nightdress and the bedclothes” (39). The red of Ena’s blood stands out starkly on the linen, a clear sign that her condition is dire. She dies like so many other people in the community due to a lack of access to sufficient medical care and treatment. In this way, the color red symbolizes the ongoing difficulties of political and social life in Derry.
