Saturday, December 27, 2014

THE CHISELLERS by BRENDAN Ó CARROLL SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS

THE CHISELLERS by BRENDAN Ó CARROLL

SUMMARY
A woman named Agnes Browne lives in Dublin in 1970 with her children and Agnes' husband, Redser, died three years before the novel begins.  Agnes' children are named Cathy, Dermot, Simon, Mark, Rory, and Francis.  Francis is the eldest son and prefers the nickname 'Frankie'.  Frankie is  belongs to a gang of skinheads, or, neo-nazis, who target homosexuals because there are no people of color in Dublin during this novel's setting.  Mark is an apprentice at the carpentry business of an old man named Benny Wise.  Rory left school at 14 and entered into an apprenticeship with a hairdresser.  Cathy is in her final year of school, at age 13.  Dermot and Simon are twins and together in their first year at Technical School.  Simon has a severe stutter and is thought to have a vocation for Priesthood while Dermot is talented at carpentry and runs a newspaper route.  Thomas is six years old and is thought to be either intellectually deficient or dyslexic by his teachers.
A man named Sean McHugh who works at Benny Wise's carpentry business asks Mark Browne to participate in a company meeting with a firm called 'Smyth and Blythe' which is pivotal to the future of Benny Wise's carpentry firm.  Browne and McHugh market a product called the 'Elizabeth Suite' to Smythe and Blythe which the British customers believe is named for Queen Elizabeth, but in reality is named after a woman named Elizabeth whom Mark wishes to marry named Elizabeth Collins.
Agnes Browne wins the local bingo game for £310.  Frankie is expelled from school, and Agnes threatens to disallow Frankie to live with Agnes if Frankie does not find a job and pay rent.  Dermot goes shoplifting the next day because Dermot is bored and does not have any money.  Mark witnesses Dermot shoplifting and invents an excuse on behalf of Dermot which Mark tells Agnes, but Mark scolds Dermot for stealing privately.  Agnes goes on a date that evening.
Mark Browne borrows £50 from Agnes Browne and spends all of Mark's savings on carpentry supplies for the 'Elizabeth Suite'.  Mark is successful in building the Suite and secures an order with 'Smyth and Blythe' for as many Suites as Mark can make for a price of £80 a suite.
Manny Wise is an emigrant and the son of Benny Wise and lives in London, selling drugs via younger Irish emigrants who often become addicted to the heroin which they are attempting to sell.  The police are watching Manny closely.
Simon overcomes his stutter to secure a job as a porter in training with the local hospital.  Frankie and the skinheads corner Rory in an alley because the skinheads suspect Rory of being homosexual as a hairdresser and the skinheads, including Frankie, physically assault Rory, injuring Rory badly.  Frankie steals the remainder of Agnes' bingo money and sails off for England.
Frankie assumes the alias of Ben Daly and becomes Manny Wise's right hand man in London.  Frankie begins selling drugs and using cocaine with Manny Wise.  Frankie sends home two £20 notes to Agnes and apologizes for stealing Agnes' business money in an attached letter.  Years pass by.
Cathy Dowdall is a friend of Cathy Browne's and goes on a data with Simon Browne.  Cathy Dowdall attempts to give Simon genital stimulation with her hand while Simon and Cathy are sitting in a theater.  Simon is petrified and Cathy Dowdall is arrested for lewd behavior.  Simon joins the priesthood after Cathy Dowdall attempts to give Simon manual genital stimulation.
Manny Wise is arrested and calls Frankie, whom Wise believes is named Ben Daly, from prison.  Wise sends Daly to Wise's apartment to collect Wise's money for bail.  Instead of only taking out the money necessary for bail, Frankie steals all of Wise's money and an envelope in which Manny Wise kept the deed to Benjamin Wise's carpentry shop.  Frankie goes to the prison and bails Manny out but then makes an excuse to leave Manny.  Frankie stays in England but hides where Manny cannot find Frankie, although Manny sends guards to all the airports and border crossing areas when Manny discovers that Frankie has stolen Manny's money.  Frankie develops a heroin addiction while on the run from Manny Wise and spends almost all of the £3000 stolen from Manny Wise during a three month period in London through a combination of drinking, gambling, and heroin use.
Mark Browne marries Elizabeth Collins in 1978 and Benjamin Wise dies of excitement during the ceremony.  Manny Wise flies into town for Benjamin Wise's funeral.  Benjamin Wise's lawyer calls Mark Browne, Sean McHugh, and Manny Wise into the lawyer's office to read Benjamin Wise's will.  Benjamin Wise leaves Benjamin Wise's home to Sean McHugh, the Wise carpentry shop to Mark Browne, and Benjamin Wise leaves Manny Wise's ego to Manny Wise.  Manny Wise laughs, and claims to have the deed to Benjamin Wise's carpentry shop, making Benjamin Wise's will void.  The lawyer gives Manny Wise three days to produce the deed.
Manny Wise flies back to London and finds that the deed has been stolen.  A former employee of Manny Wise's, named Joe Fitzgerald, assaults Manny Wise in the lobby of Manny Wise's apartment building for heroin, and Manny Wise attacks Joe Fitzgerald, and in the process Manny Wise punctures a foil package of cocaine, which explodes all over the lobby of the apartment building.  Police witness the scene and arrest Manny Wise.
Frankie hides in a cargo freight of a train headed toward London and dreams of Ireland while using his last fix of heroin.  Frankie dies of hypothermia and the coroners find Frankie's body with the crumpled deed to Benjamin Wise's carpentry shop.

ANALYSIS
Family values are heavily underpinned in this novel.  Frankie and Manny are disrespectful toward their respective parents and both Frankie and Manny experience unfortunate endings.  Mark, who scolds his brothers Frankie and Dermot for misbehaving, is rewarded with vast riches.
This book is an excellent example of religious cohabitation in Ireland.  Benjamin Wise is Jewish and the Brownes are Catholic.  While Jewish burial customs confuse Dermot, everyone is happy to honor Benjamin Wise's wishes at Benjamin Wise's funeral.  This book provides a realistic contrast to the public media image of Ireland as presented by British sources in a sectarian light.  While sectarian conflict has been part of Ireland's history, the progress made on this front is totally underestimated in the international media.  Rather than political dissenters and civil rights activists, Catholics who resist British oppression are depicted as religious fanatics in the British media, while the British Episcopalians are depicted as merely defending the British culture.  Why the British culture needs to be defended against a group of people it has oppressed for hundreds of years and continues to oppress today, is unknown to me.
Ranting aside, this book is iontach craic, or a lot of fun as bearla, or English.  Brendan O'Carroll fills the book with sly jokes and likable characters.  The plot twists and drama make The Chisellers very enjoyable.


  • a boy in Ireland beats up his brother and flees to England
  • a brother of the boy who flees to England becomes a successful carpenter
  • the boy who flees to Ireland steals from his drug dealing boss
  • the carpenter gets married and the drug dealing boss' father dies, leaving a carpentry business to the successful carpenter
  •  drug dealing boss must produce a deed to keep the carpentry business
  • drug dealing boss is arrested and the boy who fled to England dies of hypothermia


SOURCE
O'Carroll, Brendan. The Chisellers. New York: Plume, 2000. Print. Book about an Irish family in 1970s Dublin.
Part 1 of Vice's British biased, hyperbole-ridden documentary on terrorism in Ireland.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nzDuiv3U8o

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