A thick sign of the cross on Cushla’s forehead
Every Ash Wednesday, Catholics go to celebrate mass, and they are marked with crosses to signify the importance of the day. When Cushla goes to work the following day at their pub, she looks at the mirror and sees the image of the cross on her head. The narrator says, "Cushla leaned at the mirror to check her reflection. Father Slattery had marked her with a thick cross an inch wide and two inches long." The imagery is paramount in the text because it shows that Cushla and her family are Catholics despite living in a neighborhood dominated by the Protestants. Most of the male customers who regularly frequent the family pub are Protestants.
The News
The news read by children at school paints a picture of violence in the town. Jonathan reports, "A booby-trap bomb intended for a British Army foot patrol exploded prematurely, killing two boys near the border. They died instantly." The children's teacher, Cushla, is unhappy with the children knowing too much about violence. However, the imagery is significant because it shows that children are in danger whenever violence erupts.
The imagery of Gina
Since the death of Gina's husband, she has resolved to alcoholism and smoking. Whenever Gina comes home drunk, she sleeps in her clothes without taking baths, which makes her roomy smelly, and messy. The narrator says, "Gina was as Cushla had left her the night before, with the addition of a lit cigarette. The knickers had slid down her forehead." It is the responsibility of Cushla to clean her mother's mess, which has been the norm since her father's death. The imagery is significant because it shows the impact of grief when an individual loses a loved one. Gina is depressed, and she has found it difficult to move on. Consequently, she has resolved to drink alcohol and smoke to forget her grief.
