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Finbar Skeffington

Finbar is described as a teacher and a fanatical IRA member. He's dreaming of
becoming a hero of the civil war for freedom and in the war against alcohol (see page 16, l. 18: He wears a Pioneer Total Abstinence Pin). He is a small man with short legs and rabbit-teeth (page 16, ll.19).
From my point of view Finbar can be seen as a preacher, a preacher of war. He likes to convince people of his ideals and his ideals are violence, hatred and the principles of the Old Testament. (His father was injured in a car accident and he knee-capped the boy who drove the car with an abattoir captive bolt, cf. page 128-129). A good example of this is given ob page 55. The preacher Skeffington tells stories about the vices and the decays of rotten people who are mostly alcoholics. He does it to confess his attitude towards alcohol and, in a decent way, the hopeless fight for a free Ireland. But on the other hand he tries to confess his auditory about the easy fight with another story about his time as a teacher (see page 55, ll. 29 f.): "It's all the boys at the runt-end of the class who are going to end up in the Army. The idiots, the psychopaths - the one class of people who shouldn't be given a gun." With the last part of his speech he even doubts the ability and faculty of the soldiers. But to talk about soldiers and their abilities towards guns isn't very smashing so he changes to the alcoholic problem, real preacherlike.
The second symbol of his attitude of superiority is his behaviour towards his father (see page 56, ll. 12 f.). He is always there to give a helping hand and he is open to support poor people (see page 54, ll. 25 - 37).
It seems that Skeffington only accepts one part of his confession : he truly belives in charity, but he also believes in the movement (the IRA), and for that he accepts violence and murders.

by Martin Janssen

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