scotlandrulz

“Lies of Silence” is a novel written by Brian Moore which is about the violence and the troubles in Northern Ireland with Catholics and Protestants.

The book follows Michael Dillon’s, the hotel manager of the Clarence Hotel, short life. Michael is faced with a two main dilemmas in the novel but the one I will discuss is the dilemma at the start of the book, where the IRA plant a bomb in his car and Michael has to decide if he will blow up the hotel or not.

The problem that Michael Dillon faces starts one night, while Michael and Moira are sleeping, members of the IRA, the Irish Republic Army and break into their house and hold them hostage. Michael was told to drive to work as normal and blow up the hotel with his car as the IRA have put a bomb in his car boot. If he decides to go through with the plan, the people in the hotel will be killed and Moira would be safe. Or he could rebel against the IRA’s plan and phone the police putting Moira’s life in danger. As he was having an affair with Andrea Baxter, this could have been an advantage as he was set to leave Moira the morning the IRA came. In the end he chooses to phone the police, a bad decision, and pays the price being murdered in London for what he did, by the IRA.

When Michael arrives home after phoning the police, Moira appears to be very angry.
“I thought of those people. And of course, all the time I was thinking of you.”
“Were you?”
This is telling us that Moira does not believe a word Michael has said and is hurt that Michael risked her life for people he did not know. This shows us that the reunion between the two was very cold. The decision to phone the police about the bomb put strain on his marriage with Moira, ultimately ending their marriage together. This shows us that you need to be honest with one another for a marriage to work. As the IRA were the ones who created the plan, religion can divide people as they are very passionate about what they believe and are selfish and we should develop more tolerance of other people’s religions and beliefs.

After Michael and Moira had talked to the police, Michael was very paranoid thinking that the IRA were watching him. A good example of this is when Michael is on his way to meet Moira in the café, The Bon-Bon, and he sees a teenage boy behind him.
“The boy looked at him, and as he went down the crowded shopping street he saw the boy follow him.”
This tells us that Michael was worried about his life as the IRA or IRA supporters phoned him and threatened his life. He thought that the IRA were sending people to spy on him because they knew that Michael saw one of their member’s faces and they ruined their plans to bomb the hotel.

Later on in the novel, Moira goes to the media to discuss her and Michael’s night when the IRA held them hostage. This again puts strain on their marriage as Michael is annoyed that Moira did not confirm him on her decision to go to the media and puts both of their lives in more danger.
“No, but I heard about it. I notice you didn’t bother to ask me before you got us into this.”
This shows us that couples need to talk to each other in a marriage for it to work. Moira makes matters worse by saying to an English journalist that Michael had seen a member of the IRA’s face. Michael then tells her to stop appearing on television and says that he received a phone call at the hotel saying that they are talking too much about what happened on the night they were hostages. This then leads to his death, later on in the novel, in London where he lives with Andrea after his life is in serious danger with the IRA.

Michael asks his boss if he can get a transfer to London to get away from the IRA as he is in a lot of danger and also to start a new life with Andrea. He asks Moira if she will move from Belfast but she refuses. I think that Michael was happier when he was in London with Andrea as he was not paranoid like he was in Belfast. He seemed scared in Belfast which you would be after the IRA make you part of their plan to kill innocent people.
“Great view. Looks like a bombsite.”
This shows happiness as he Michael is having a laugh with Andrea at her friend’s party.

I enjoyed the start of “Lies of Silence” but the ending was very disappointing because Moira’s character isn’t very realistic and if Michael cared for her, like he said he did, I would have expected him to save her life instead of saving people he never knew. I have learned that religion plays a big part of violence around the world which is terrible. If I was in Michael’s situation, I would not have phoned the police as it was a very dangerous move.

This novel has helped me see that life is not straight forward, sometimes people face difficult moral dilemmas. We have to consider carefully decisions we make and the consequences of our actions. We must also take into consideration the effects they have on other people.