SUBMITTED BY:

ADITI VAID

COLLEGE:
D.A.V CENTENARY, NH-3, NIT, FARIDABAD

DEPARTMENT:
M.A.ENGLISH

SEMESTER:THIRD

ROLL NO.
2261220018

PROJECT:
LAMB

SUBMITTED TO:
MR. SHIVAM JHAMB
AUTHOR:
BERNARD MACLAVERTY
Bernard Maclaverty was born in Belfast in 1942, and
moved to Scotland in 1975, where he lived in Edinburgh,
on the Isle of Islay, and now in Glasgow.

He is the author of the novels Lamb (1980); Cal (1983);

Grace Notes (1997); and The Anatomy School (2001), set
in Belfast in the late 1960s.

Both Lamb and Cal have been made into major films for
which he wrote the screenplays.

Grace Notes was awarded the 1997 Saltire Society

Scottish Book of the Year Award and shortlisted for many
other major prizes, including the Booker Prize for Fiction
and the Whitbread Novel Award.
His books of short stories are Secrets & Other Stories
(1977);
A Time to Dance & Other Stories (1982)
The Great Profundo & Other Stories (1987)
Walking the Dog & Other Stories (1994)
Matters of Life & Death (2006) and most recently
published his Collected Stories (2013).

In 2003, he wrote and directed a short film, Bye-Child,

after a poem by Seamus Heaney, which was
nominated for a BAFTA (Best Short Film Award) and
won a BAFTA Scotland (Best First Director Award).

He has also written 2 books for young children: A Man

in Search of a Pet (1978), which he also illustrated; and
Andrew McAndrew (1988).

Won IRISH BOOK AWARDS in 2017.

 MACLAVERTY’S WRITINGS

MacLaverty is a skilled wordsmith and someone with keen insights into the human
psyche. Like his fellow Belfast writer, Brian Moore, MacLaverty is also a wonderful
storyteller with a great feel for dialogue, characters, landscape (or cityscape), and a
sharp understanding of the factors that make people behave in a certain manner, be it
family background, social class, religion or education.

Portrayal of Catholicism is something that reveals the enduring influence of his Belfast
childhood.
In a 2006 interview with Richard Rankin Russell, the author explains how a Catholic upbringing stays
embedded in a writer’s mind, regardless of how far one may stray from formal religious practice.
LAMB

Published in 1980.

At a time when the full extent of crimes against children in

religious-run institutions such as the industrial schools,
mother and child homes, Magdalene laundries and
correctional centres had not yet come to public attention to
any great extent.
STORY
The main character, Michael Lamb
Came from a devout rural Ulster background, a
factor that influenced his decision at a young age to
become a Christian Brother.

He took the religious name Sebastian.

He was sent to work in a school for young male

offenders.

The superior in this institution, Brother

Benedict
urged his staff not to spare the rod when it came to
disciplining the inmates:
“If they do not conform, we thrash them. We teach
them a little of God and a lot of fear. It is a
combination that seems to work.”
Brother Sebastian does not subscribe to this view, however, especially when it comes to
Owen Kane.

Owen Kane
A fragile boy whose parents’ neglect (the father left shortly after he was born and the
mother is an alcoholic) led to his incarceration/imprisonment in the first instance.

He had been involved in some petty crime and was prone to epileptic attacks.

Owen’s arrival in the home comes at a time when Brother Sebastian is already beginning
to doubt his decision to devote his life to God. The death of his father, a gentle farmer
whose care for his invalided wife was a model of Christian practice and whose kind
mentoring of his son would leave a lasting mark, prompts Sebastian to wonder if both
God and himself would be better served by his leaving the Brothers.
The one great obstacle to his leaving is the prospect of what might happen to Owen
after his departure:

He is protective of the boy in a way that is probably unhealthy.

He sees how ill-suited Owen is to the institution – he tried to escape unsuccessfully on a few
occasions already – and he takes the rather drastic decision to leave with the boy to London.

He is intent on ensuring that Owen experiences happiness for as long as possible.

Michael, although he has become seriously disillusioned with organised religion, is still attracted to
an all-loving Christ figure to whom he can turn in times of need.
He is beginning to question his faith seriously, however, as is evident from the extra phrase he
attaches to all his prayers: “If You exist God, if You exist, help me”.
In London they lived as father and son.
After a few weeks in London, Michael decides to return to Ireland, where he decides
to induce a fit in the boy while they are out swimming.

His intention is for the boy to die before the authorities arrive and return him to the
care of the Brothers.

He sees himself as acting in the place of God, a God who remains silent:
“Oh Jesus, if you are there, help me”, he implores. Nothing happens, however, apart from a rather
strange response from nature: “Michael looked away and up to the sky, away from the boy’s face, and
saw the lightning flash from clouds rumpled and coloured like brains.” Could this be the sign he was
looking for? It would appear not, as he then observes: “He had no luck. No faith. And now, no love.”
 Title of the novel: Lamb
“Lamb” is used for both Michael as his name is Michael
Lamb in the novel and used symbolically for Owen as he
was the one who was killed/sacrificed in the end.

The choice of name for the main character leads one to

believe that it might well be Michael, not Owen, who is the
sacrificial “lamb”

After all, it is he who will ultimately face trial for murder.

It is he who will have to endure all sorts of unsavoury
interrogation in the witness box about his reasons for
abducting and then murdering the boy.
SYMBOLS
For MacLaverty, it is “imagery and symbol” that feeds what I would describe as the
Catholic sensibility in most of his writings.

Symbol of the bird:

Brother Benedict is described like a bird a lot.

The line “Benedict sat waiting with a bird like tilt of the head, sharp,
owl-like” gives a very vivid description of Benedict.

Another bird symbol ”……….he saw three gulls, their yellow beaks angled with screeching, descending
slowly, with meticulous care.”

The gulls are swooping down on their prey, Owen, with depressing screech , his eyes they will
presumably target, but their sharp beaks also demand retribution from Michael for what he has done.
Symbol of Pinball machine:
“His dread of the steel ball thumping hollowly into
the depths of the pinball machine, the inevitability of it despite the
frantic flicking of the small rubber wings unable to reach”
line which shows that no matter how hard you try in the end you will always
fail.

“Funnelled towards the act he had decided upon” shows this

inevitability, that even though Michael had chosen to kill the boy for his
own good, there was no longer any other option.

Myth of Daedalus and Icarus :

In the myth Daedalus is responsible
for his son’s death while trying to save him from the captivity the king held them in and in the novel
Michael is responsible for Owen’s death as he wanted to save him from the life of suffering.
Symbol of Lamb:

“Lamb” is used for both Michael as his name is Michael Lamb in the novel and
used symbolically for Owen as he was the one who was killed/sacrificed in the
end.

The choice of name for the main character leads one to believe that it might well
be Michael, not Owen, who is the sacrificial “lamb”

After all, it is he who will ultimately face trial for murder.

It is he who will have to endure all sorts of unsavoury interrogation in the witness
box about his reasons for abducting and then murdering the boy.
 CONCLUSION

While there is a lot more to his writing than its religious content,
( religious content such as the catholic symbol of lamb, which is also the title of the novel.. the
ongoing theme of Catholicism in the novel.. the setting and cultural background of the novel and
other than that we see father and son relationship in the novel .. Their longing for love in their
personal lives and finally finding that love in each other)
this aspect does nurture his aesthetic imagination and gives the work its
undoubtedly distinctive quality.
The writing is engaging. Maclaverty tells the story in such a manner that we are
able to feel every emotion (shown in the novel) in depth.

A tragic yet heart-touching novel. I was literally shocked after reading the ending
But the theme that stands out, for me, is love and the things you would do for it.