Across The Barricades Essay, Research Paper

The story in Across the barricades+ revolves around Sadie Jackson and Kevin McCoy. They are old friends but they have not seen each other in a long time because of their religious differences. Sadie is Protestant and Kevin is Catholic, and that causes many problems living in Belfast in Northern Ireland.One day they bump into each other in the middle of town. They talk about old times, and hit it of well. They start seeing each other regularly, despite of what people are thinking and saying behind their backs. The couple confide in Sadies brother, Tommy, and Kevin s sister, Brede. They are very worried about where the relationship is leading.To relax and get away from it all, they take a trip to Bangor together. Here they really connect before they get into an argument about each other s religions. Kevin explodes and walks of. as it starts to rain, they meet under a shelter, and they kiss. But soon they have to get back to the troubles of Belfast. It just gets worse and worse for Kevin and Sadie. After Sadie s boss criticises her relationship, she swears at her boss and quits her job. She is now unemployed, a not so unusual problem in Belfast. Kevin s friend Brian does not come to terms with the relationship. He gather some friends and give Kevin a real beating. He struggles his way to the place where he is going to meet Sadie. Mr Blake, Sadie s old school teacher, finds Kevin hurt under a tree and starts to help him. Sadie arrives, and he drives them both to his house, and calls a doctor. At this point they start to think that the relationship is not going to work, and Sadie presents the idea of breaking up.

Mr Blake helps them out one more time. he decides to give Sadie a job, and they can see each other at his place once in a wile. One day Kevin gets arrested for hiding a weapon in Mr Kelly s scrapyard, his workplace. Although he knows it was his friend Brian who did it. he confronts Brian on his way to work, and gives him a hard beating.Mr. Blake starts to get threatening letters. He ignores them and decides to not tell anything to Sadie and Kevin. On the 12. of July, the national day, Kevin and Sadie makes another trip to Bangor. Kevin says he is thinking of leaving Belfast. He is sick of it all. Early one morning Sadie gets the message that Mr. Blake has been murdered by a bomb thrown in the window. When Kevin hears about this, he makes up his mind. He is leaving. The tells Sadie he is leaving soon. He tells his family that he is going to London to find work. At the harbour, he meets Sadie. She has her bags with her, and has decided to go with him to Liverpool.