Bogmail: A Novel with Murder: Analysis of Major Characters
"Bogmail: A Novel with Murder" delves into the complexities of human relationships, morality, and the consequences of one's actions, set against the backdrop of a small Irish village in County Donegal. The narrative centers on Tim Roarty, a pub owner burdened by his past and his feelings of inadequacy, who takes drastic measures to protect his daughter, Cecily, from perceived threats. Roarty's violent choices lead to a tangled web of deceit and blackmail, ultimately revealing his vulnerability and the consequences of his dark decisions.
Key characters include Kenneth Potter, an introspective Englishman grappling with loneliness and his desire to belong, and Nora Hession, a housekeeper whose past trauma influences her choices and relationships. Canon Loftus, the village priest, embodies a cynical worldview, and village figures like McGing, the zealous police sergeant, and Gimp Gillespie, the opportunistic reporter, add layers of intrigue and conflict. The story explores themes of betrayal, love, ambition, and the moral ambiguities faced by its characters, offering a nuanced portrayal of life in a closely-knit community.
Bogmail: A Novel with Murder: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Patrick McGinley
First published: 1978
Genre: Novel
Locale: County Donegal, Ireland
Plot: Detective and mystery
Time: The 1970's
Tim Roarty, the proprietor of a pub in the County Donegal village of Glenkeel. Tall, bearded, and bald, he emits an air of pessimism, considering himself a man of action condemned to an idle existence. A former seminarian, he has been impotent since he was twenty-eight. His wife died seventeen years before the time of the story, after giving birth to a daughter, Cecily, to whom Roarty is devoted despite his not being her natural father. When barman Eamonn Eales turns his attentions to Cecily, Roarty sends the girl to London, kills his employee, and buries him in a bog, deeming this murder a triumph of intelligence. His smugness is shattered when he finds himself the victim of a blackmailer who he decides is Kenneth Potter, whom he also attempts to murder. After Roarty accidentally shoots Rory Rua, the dying man reveals that he is in fact the blackmailer.
Kenneth Potter, an Englishman living in County Donegal while working for a mining firm. The introspective Potter has become increasingly lonely since turning forty and losing his ardor for his Irish wife, who remains in Dublin. He finds himself revitalized by Irish village life and his affair with Nora Hession. Attempting to become part of the community, he leads the opposition to Canon Loftus' replacement of the wooden altar in the village chapel with a limestone one, only to have the priest convince the villagers that Potter's company is exploiting them. Fired from his job, he returns to London.
Nora Hession, the housekeeper for the local priest. Intelligent and sensitive, she has been forlorn since being mis-treated by a lover seven years earlier. She is transformed by her love for Potter and, when she becomes pregnant, agrees to go away with him. She changes her mind when she discovers that he is married.
Canon Loftus, the priest of Glenkeel. A morose man, he blames the miseries of the world on women. He spends most of the week working on his farm, devoting little time to his parishioners. He has had a new chapel built. The villagers think it is ugly, but it conveys for him the austerity of true spirituality.
McGing, the village police sergeant. Headstrong and ob-stinate, with an inflated sense of his intelligence, he has waited all his life for a mystery only he can solve. Faced with the murder of Eales, he thinks of himself as Sherlock Holmes locked in a battle of wits with a wily Moriarty, but he always draws the wrong conclusions. He decides that the murderer is Rory Rua after it is too late to arrest him.
Gimp Gillespie, a reporter for the Donegal Dispatch.Hecollects news by sitting and drinking in Roarty's pub. Potter's closest companion in Glenkeel, he betrays his friend by changing sides in the conflict with Canon Loftus and by writing an article for a Dublin newspaper attacking the motives of Potter's firm.
Cor Mogaill Maloney, the village eccentric. A young Marxist, he is thought of as an intellectual because he carries copies of the Irish Times and a history of Ireland in his knapsack. His odd behavior includes looking up the exhaust pipes of automobiles. He is the only one to stand by Potter against the priest.
Rory Rua, Potter's landlord, a lobster fisherman. After Roarty ignores his first blackmail note, he cuts a foot off Eales's corpse and sends it to McGing. He uses his blackmail proceeds to purchase a run-down farm that Roarty has been trying to buy for years.
Eamonn Eales, Roarty's barman and victim. Secretive, sharp-tongued, and overconfident, this vagabond ladies' man from Kerry travels with two predatory black cats. Roarty regards him as the personification of evil.
Crubog, a poor elderly pensioner and owner of the farm Roarty covets. After insisting that he will never sell, he enrages the publican when he gives in to Rory Rua.