So because now the forum works fluently, I would like to start our first discussion about the first scenario, how the story may had changed if Cal had told Marcella, that he had killed Robert. I hope it doesn't matter that we can't change our Nicknames (I haven't found a possibility to change it, I guess the only one is to create a new account), but I would like to start the discussion as fast as possible because we have so many other topics ;)
The question is: If and how changes the story, when Cal tells Marcella, what he had done.
I want to keep my comments and thoughts at first back to give all of you the chance to read this entry and to think about it. Then we can start the discussion ;)

I wish all of you a great weekend and I'm excited about your first comments! :)

I think it doesn't matter that we can't change our names, because I have no problem to say my opinion and my thoughts. The topic you chose is good and I think also very important, but I guess we just have to discuss one topic and come to a conclusion? So we have enough time till the 20th of March. ;) Anyway I want to express my thoughts about this question.
In my opinion the story wouldn't change dramatically, because in the book it becomes clear that Marcella didn't love her husband anymore. When Cal asked her if she liked him, she answered:"Recently-not much." (p.124) Marcella talks about his lies, his affairs, his drinking and that he spent al lot of money. (p.124) So I think they didn't love each other, but Marcella stayed by Robert because it was comfortable and they have a daughter, so she didn't make the step to go away. The death of Robert changed her life and I think she was a little bit glad that her "old life" came to an end. Certainly she was hurt an sad about his death, because Robert was the man she really loved and the father of her daughter. If Cal tells Marcella what he had done, she would be surprised and shocked I think, because it would be a very difficult and weird situation for her. But in my opinion that wouldn't change anything about her feelings for Cal. Maybe she disrupts the contact for a few days to think about what he told her, but she never would "leave" Cal. At page 101 she says that Cal is good for her, he makes her feel younger. So my final statement is that the story wouldn't change dramatically, because there is something between Cal and Marcella that is so strong that Marcella could't interrupt the contact.

First of all, thanks for this great question! I would partly agree with Berenike: Marcella maybe would go on loving Cal, because she no longer loved Robert, but i doesn't think, that the story would go on in the same, or nearly the same way, it does, rather Marcella would call the police. It may be not her first thought, that Cal himself would be arrested, but at least it was a terrible moment for her to see how the father of her children was shot down in her own house and thats why she want to see Crilly arrested by the police , so that Cal's arrest equals more a mistake, then she realy want it. Maybe the story would go on like this: Cal is prison and Marcella would visit him. Cal would be feel very guilty and please Marcella for forgiveness, but it will be unsure if Marcelle realy would forgive him.

My opinion is, that it is hard to imagine how she would react, if Cal tells her what he has done. For Marcella, like you both allready said, it was terrible to see, how Robert was shot down in her own house. Even if you don't like or love this person any more, would you wish him to be shot down? I don't think that Marcella thought like that. Why should she stay at his side, if she hates him? I guess she just can't live him any more, but it was ok for her. It's hard to love a person for many years and maybe she knew that. Anyway, what I want to say, is, that in my opinion, she wouldn't be ok with the deed of Cal. For her it's like a tightrope walk (I guess it's the english word for "Gratwanderung") between hate and love for Cal. She will need a lot of time to think about. Besides that, she maybe gets ripped out of this feeling of being in love, when you don't care about the rest of the world. When she gets back into the real life, she maybe realises that she and Cal wouldn't have any future. I mean, she's older than him, has already a daughter and her family wouldn't be ok with the fact that she loves or is in a partnership with the guy who supported the IRA or killed her husband. How should it go one with her social life? She could go away from that town of course, away from the troubles with her family and begin a new life with Cal. But first, he is in prison, and she has no one who will support her at this time when she stays at the side of Cal.
To get to a final statement: I don't believe that her love for Cal is so intense that she wants to stay through all the problems she would get if she stays at Cals side. Maybe she would forgive him, but she just can't live together with a person who supported them to kill her husband.

Of course it would be a very difficult and hard situation for Marcella and also for Cal, who is arrested and is so sorry about his past. But Lennard you said:" I mean, she's older than him, has already a daughter and her family wouldn't be ok with the fact that she loves or is in a partnership with the guy who supported the IRA or killed her husband." I don't agree with you, because I think that Marcella doesn't like Robert's family, the farm where she lives and her whole life in this town. She hasn't friends or any social contacts in this city. So I think, Cal is a very special person for her. He brings fresh breath in her live ("Frischen Wind in ihr Leben bringen"), he is younger, but in my opinion it doesn't matter, because this is the special thing. Cal "fascinates" Marcella because of his age and his juvenileness, so the age difference isn't the problem. Besides I want to say that "the guy who supported the IRA" is a very strong statement. Of course he supported Crilly and Skeffington, because of his shyness and missing self-confidence. But in the course of time Cal changed, he becomes more self-confident and adult. In my view he will convince Marcella that he didn't join the IRA as a confident voluntary and that he is really sorry about what he had done. Maybe Marcella will need time to think about it, but at the end she will decide for Cal and a future with him. In my opinion they will live together in an other city, away from the past and also away from Robert's family. Maybe my ideas and thoughts are to optimistic and romantic, but I'am really sure that Cal and Marcella have a chance of a life together. ;)

I totally agree with J.J.J.
I think that it would be hard for Marcella being together with the person who killed her husband, although she didn't love him anymore. Personally, I think that I couldn't be in a real relationship with someone who killed somebody else. And I guess that Marcella won't be able to forget that the father of her child was killed in a quite rude way. Marcella seems to be a quite responsible person, so she would first think of her child. She would adjudge Cal if he would tell her that he killed her husband. Maybe she was lucky to lose her husband whom she didn't love anymore and having the chance to start a new life with a new partner. But in my opinion it's no good foundation for a relationship to know that your partner killed your husband whom you the promise to live with him for the rest of your life. Maybe Marcella would be thinking about forgiving Cal but she would soon realise that there is no chance of making the killing of her husband undone. I think she wouldn't put Cal totally out of her life. But in my opinion she wouldn't be able to forgive him.

Well, first I really have to say thank you for beeing more "active" than me in the last week.! ;)
It was really interesting to read your comments.
In my opinion the "mistress relationship" between Cal and Marcella focuses onesidedly on Cal. I don't think that Marcella really loves him, I think she loves Cal's "obsession" and the feeling of beeing younger that Cal gives to her. I think Marcella is a very "hard- headed" person. On the one hand she left her home country Italy, her family and her friends to live in Ireland with Robert and on the other hand she isn't strong enough to leave Ireland together with her dauughter after Robert have been murdered. Her relation to Roberts parents isn't that close and she doesn't have any friends in Ireland (like you have said before).
She is catholic (like Cal), but she was married to an protestant man and now she lives in a protestant neighbourhood. Anway she goes to church every sunday together with her daughter. I can't imagine that her mother- in- law or her deceased husband would be happy ybout that.
So why did I wrote all these thinks about Marcella?
I only like to show you how unpredictable Marcella is and how difficult it is to find "the right answer" to this question.
Personally, I totally agree with Milena. I wouldn't be able to be in a relationship with someone who killed somebody else, but I also would't stay in a country where I don't have any friends and where I have lost my husband (doesn't matter if I loved him or not!) so for me it's not that easy to look throug Marcellas character. I colud imagine that she would kick Cal out of the house and break up the "relation" but I can also imagine that she would "forgive" him and go on.
But when we are talking about this question we should really ask ourselves if Marcella really loves Cal or if she only uses him.
I'm excited how you think about my comment! ;)

I really gotta say that I didn't think about the aspect Marie mentioned in her comment. I agree that Marcella seems a kind of unpredictable. But I think that for example her staying in the country is a kind of logical because her child was born there and I think she really wants to make her daughter happy. Maybe this could be a reason for her unpredictable behaviour. But I still think that her behaviour seems to be unpredictable and this could be a clue that she could also forgive Cal the killing of her husband.
Marie is right, that the big question is if Marcella really loves Cal. I don't believe that. Maybe I would think about it in another way if the novel would have been written in an omniscient perspective. But in the novel itself I didn't get any feelings of Marcella so I'm not convinced that she loves Cal. I also think that she likes the feeling Cal gives to her but not him as a person.

I agree with Milena’s last sentence. In my opinion Marcella’s relation to Cal is like a rush. You have to think about what she has done in the last few years. First her husband is murdered in her own house, then she has to live in a house with her parents in law she doesn’t like and who always remember her of Robert. And in this whole time she doesn’t even have a friend to talk to. Her only gleam of hope is her daughter. In this situation appears a young man, who lets her feel alive and young again. This rush lets her forget about all her problems.
If Cal would tell her now, that he more or less directly helped to kill her husband, this illusion of love and a future with him would totally break. In my opinion she would react with big anger. She would accuse him, that he utilizes her weakness, and forbid him to approach her family ever again. Then she would call the police because she feels humiliated by Cal.

First I like to ask Milena why she thinks, that it's logical that Marcella stays in Ireland for her daughter?
I don't agree whith you in this point. I think Marcella is a clever woman, so she knows what's going on in Ireland in specially in her neighbourhood. Lucy is catholic, like Marcella and Cal, but she is still living in a protestant neighbourhood. So I don't think that she is staying there for her daughter because her live won't be easy in the future...
Roberts mother patronises Marcella all the time (" Mrs Morton treats me like a schoolgirl, I suppose I fight back but she always has the last word."). So it's not a relationship which is full of love between both women. Marcella doesn't like to life at the farm of her parents-in-law ("There are days when I just want to take Lucy and go.". So this sentence shows, that she isn't staying there for Lucy. In fact she is staying there because of the illnesses of her parents-in- law. Mrs Morton has Parkinson's disease, so she isn't able to look after the farm allone. Mr Morton is also ill and he needs help day and night. I think that's the real reason why Marcella is staying in Ireland.
Because of this (terrible) situation I would like to change something, I said in my first comment. I'm sure, that Marcella would forgive Cal if he tells her about the fact that he killed Robert. Marcella shows strong evidences of beeing depressed. In one sentence she tells Cal about her depressions ("At night after I've put Lucy to bed I get so depressed.I feel I just have to get out of this house"). So Marcella hates the house, she hates her live together with Mr and Mrs Morton and she want to leave. I think for Marcella, Robert is the reason of her trouble, her terrible live and her depressions. Even if she doesn't say it in a special sentence I think, that Marcella hates Robert. That's why I'm confident, that Marcella wouldn't break up the relation with Cal (instead of what Lukas said). If she wouldn't break up the relation her only possible reaction would be killing herself because of loosing the "young man, who lets her feel alive and young again" like Lukas called Cal in his comment.

I am not sure if this is because this is a special setting where where it's all hypothetical or I just simply misread something.
But,



He shoots his and Cal is the escape driver.
At least in the novel by Bernard Mac Laventry.
Please don't be offended, just trying to help.

Zitat von The Kütty im Beitrag #9

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I agree with Milena’s last sentence. In my opinion Marcella’s relation to Cal is like a rush. You have to think about what she has done in the last few years. First her husband is murdered in her own house, then she has to live in a house with her parents in law she doesn’t like and who always remember her of Robert. And in this whole time she doesn’t even have a friend to talk to. Her only gleam of hope is her daughter. In this situation appears a young man, who lets her feel alive and young again. This rush lets her forget about all her problems.
If Cal would tell her now, that he more or less directly helped to kill her husband, this illusion of love and a future with him would totally break. In my opinion she would react with big anger. She would accuse him, that he utilizes her weakness, and forbid him to approach her family ever again. Then she would call the police because she feels humiliated by Cal.

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To answer to Marie's question: I think that every mother has a sense of duty to her child. She wants only the best for her daughter. Like I said, she would stay in Ireland to let her daughter grow up in the country she was born, in the country her dad died and in the country her grandparents, with whom she lives for her whole lifetime together, live. Marcella wants to create a familiar surrounding for her daughter. I think that is a quite possible reason for staying in Ireland.

And I totally agree with Nena's last statement that it's quite hard for Marcella to leave two persons who really need her and who are not able to live on their own. I guess that Marcella would have even left her husband with a more comfortable feeling than leaving this two people alone, knowing that they can't handle it. That would possibly also be a reason why she couldn't forgive Cal.

So, if I sum up what all of you said, most of you have the opinion, that Marcella wouldn't or couldn't forgive Cal for what he has done? Wow, that suprises me, I thought at first that I would be the only one who can't imagine that Marcellas and Cals relationship would go one in a good way. Therefore I just can agree with what you wrote and I think that, I guess it was Nenas argument, the argument that Marcella makes him responsible for her situation is very interesting and I have to say that I hadn't thought about it yet.
What I want to say to your argument, that she kind of hates Cal, because for her it's now even harder to leave this town because she can't let them alone, is, that I don't understand what it has to do with Cal. Sure, if Cal wouldn't have driven Crilly, her husband would be alive and for her it would be easier to left him. But Marcella just could break up the contact to Cal and everything would be ok, or did I miss unterstood what you wrote?