Prophet Song

In Chapters 3 and 4, Lynch increases the pace and drama of the narrative, creating a sense of uncertainty and suspense that mirrors the uncertainty the characters feel about what is happening. This pace shift catalyzes Mark’s rapid evolution from an average teenager into a rebel fighter over the course of four chapters. Mark is old enough to understand what’s going on. In forcing him to leave school and home to join the military, the state takes away Mark’s childhood and innocence. He becomes disobedient toward his mother not because he doesn’t respect her, but because he is becoming an adult earlier than he anticipated. That the state cares more about teenagers joining the military than continuing with their education suggests that Lynch’s fascist version of Ireland is trying to indoctrinate young people and force their involvement with its authoritarian institutions. Mark’s character development into a rebel is therefore Lynch’s way of championing young people as the ones who can change the future. Mark has less responsibility than someone like Eilish, who has a family to provide for. Empowered by righteous anger, he thus acts on what he knows is right, despite the profound risk to his own safety.

The Tyranny of Authoritarian Society again comes to the fore as many citizens fight against the state through protests and demonstrations, which in turn makes the new authoritarian regime increase their violence. Arrests of citizens for practicing their civil rights escalate into the thousands. Not only do people need to worry about being disappeared, but now they also face an escalation of police brutality, which develops fear and anger among the population. Lynch criticizes the authoritarian state’s violent crackdown on its own people using irony: Police purport to maintain law and order, but the institutions meant to protect society are in fact the ones abusing law and order. The escalation of police violence is an important plot development because it brings society into a new chapter of fear and violence, heightening narrative tension. As Mark says, “The world is watching us, Mam […] the security forces fired live rounds into a peaceful demonstration and then hunted us down, everything has changed now, don’t you see, there can be no going back” (100-01). Here, Mark highlights that this conflict—like many modern conflicts—has an international audience due to media coverage and the internet. However, “the world” that is watching is just as powerless to stop what’s happening as the people of Ireland are. Notably, however, Eilish increasingly encounters people who support the state’s actions—including her boss and her cousin’s groom—highlighting both the rifts in society and the ways that navigating relationships once taken for granted becomes more difficult under authoritarian control: “Political disagreements” become far more charged when lives are on the line.

The Power of the Family Unit is challenged, as the stresses of living in an increasingly dystopian society continue their toll on the Stack family. Bailey is quick to temper, and Molly quits sports and becomes thinner, a physical manifestation of her turn inward. Before running away to join the rebel army, Mark is defiant toward his mother. Eilish doesn’t know how to help her children grapple with a society and a conflict that are unprecedented to Eilish. Eilish is also trying to figure out the best way to survive while being a single, working parent. As Eilish says to Molly, “you think I’m not doing anything […] but what I am doing is keeping this family together because right now that is the hardest thing to do in a world that seems designed on tearing us apart” (76-77). Eilish displays awareness that the destruction of the family is one way the state can gain control over its citizens; she knows that she needs to keep her kids safe without sacrificing their dignity to an authoritarian regime. However, she is rapidly realizing how little control she truly has.