Bloody Conflict in America and Ireland: 1968-69

According to Wikipedia, coming-of-age, or Bildungsroman, “is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood in which character change is important.” This idea struck me as I was revisiting Mojo Mickybo that perhaps the story could be read as a coming-of-age story, in which the two boys struggled and matured as a result of the interaction between their childhood innocence and the surrounding reality. This coming of age, then, may reflect the author’s impressions of the history of Ireland since 68’ as a whole, with the perpetual tension between the idealized, fantastic vision of a united Ireland and the complicated reality that kept the vision at bay.

First of all, Mojo Mickybo exhibits a striking similarity to the structure of a coming-of-age story. The two boys started off as the classic innocent, idealistic protagonists that enjoyed their freedom and yearned to explore the world. They were away from their parents most of the time and seemed to have complete confidence in interacting with adults—chatting with the smoking women, spying on Uncle Sidney, and talking their way past the Box Office lady. Perhaps the most striking feature of Mojo Mickybo as a coming-of-age story is the spirit of adventure—Mojo and Mickybo as Butch and Sundance, ready to shoot their way out of anything that blocked them from a good time and complete freedom. As the typical coming-of-age story goes, they sought trouble with Gank and Fuckface, and escaped. Shortly after, news began to spread about violent movements in Belfast, and the reality of violence between Catholics and Protestants quickly approached their lives. They still went after freedom, going to Newcastle county, but after they came back, reality inevitably clashed with their idealized lifestyle.

Triggered by Mickybo’s Da’s death, Mickybo was no longer able to “stay out of it all.” Although not explicitly portrayed, Mickybo sure went through tremendous internal turmoil before becoming mates with Gank and Fuckface and bullied Mojo. Now, Mickybo was maturing to better cope with the reality that he must face and conform to, although with detrimental effect on his innocence and idealistic lifestyle, just like a typical coming-of-age story protagonist. This maturation process was completed when, years later, Mojo and Mickybo saw each other but ignored each other, clearly still remembering their otherworldly friendship and idealistic lifestyle, but having to suppress it to survive in the status quo.

Considering the debut date in 1998, the year the Good Friday agreement was signed, and the setting in the 1970s, it is reasonable to think that Owen McCafferty used Mojo Mickybo to portray the maturation of Ireland, just like Mojo and Mickybo. In this case, the “childhood innocence” and “idealistic lifestyle” would be (ironically) the violent conflicts between Protestants and Catholics, usually without proper justification, and instead with just the “shoot anybody in my way” mentality, paralleling the fantasies of Mojo and Mickybo as Butch and Sundance. However, this “lifestyle” came to an end in 1998 with the Good Friday agreement, signaling the overtake by the reality that perpetual violence was not sustainable. In the new reality, with Ireland as a “grown-up,” compromises were made, just like how Mickybo sided with Gank and Fuckface, conforming to the reality.

Interestingly, we can also see a coming-of-age story in The Informer. Gypo symbolizes idealism and freedom, while the Organization symbolizes reality and structure. The society as a whole can be seen as the protagonist. At the beginning, Gypo informed on Frankie, which parallels the protagonist leaving home and going on an adventure in a typical coming-of-age story. This causes internal struggle as the reality quickly sets in, when Gypo was torn between enjoying his fortune and freedom and evading suspicion. Reality inevitably won, as the organization hunted Gypo down and killed him, signaling the death of idealism and freedom in the society. The remaining Organization then mirrors Ireland after 1998 that a status quo was maintained, and if one wanted to survive, they had to play with the rules.

This is not to say that idealism and the passion for a united Ireland is nonexistent. In a typical coming-of-age story, the protagonist would still cherish his idealistic vision, although it is often buried deep in the heart so as to cope with reality. The same goes for Ireland. Although outright violent efforts substantially decreased, activists like Eamonn McCann, Geoff Brown, and Sam Lord still clearly possessed the ideal, as evidenced by their hopeful and passionate voice when talking to us. But to Ireland, these people are like the idealistic self buried deep within, while the majority of society moves forward in a more realistic, balanced, and conforming way.

In class we talked a good amount about how marriage is portrayed in Mojo Mickybo and concluded that it is depicted in a flimsy way. We see this particularly with Mojo’s parents. We learn of how they used to go dancing and love one another but eventually it detoriated with Owen McCafferty alluding to Mojo’s Da having an affair and eventually his Ma takes him to go and live with his aunt. There are a couple of other portrayals in the play such as with the box office lady, but one depiction that we did not talk about is the boys’ “marriage” with their situation.

Throughout the play the two boys seemed to live in a fantasy world, set away from the grim situation they faced daily. They didn’t have a choice as to the environment they’d be born into and seem to try their best to ignore it by constantly embarking on fantasy adventures. I think that a relationship between a Catholic and a Protestant at the time would be labeled unhealthy because of the high tensions between the two. While the boys acknowledge that they are different, it does not affect their relationship. This all changed once Mickybo’s Da was killed. No longer could Mickybo escape to the wild west because the situation was brought to him. He quickly distances himself from Mojo because he is a protestant. It’s reasonable to assume that the boys knew more about the situation than was alluded to. At the end of the day the boys were stuck in an unhealthy relationship and tried their best to improve it but couldn’t run from the reality of it.

As we have seen through our studies, knowledge of events can shape one’s entire perception of movements and people. However, what occurs when people do not have this knowledge? On one hand, lack of knowledge leads to an idealistic innocence in which negative perceptions of groups do not exist. However, this “innocence” can easily be seen as ignorance, as a willing lack of engagement with pressing issues. This distinction, I believe, can be seen through the childhood innocence found in Mojo Mickybo and the accusations of ignorance given toward white moderates and non-revolutionary black actors.
Mojo Mickybo sees a Protestant boy and a Catholic boy in Belfast having a close friendship, all the while in the background the two groups they come from clash. As children, they have no problem getting along with one another because they have not yet learned they are supposed to be enemies. It is not until they get older that they begin to have a falling out, conforming to the roles society had set for them to be enemies. This friendship being ruined is obviously a bad thing, and it is reflective of how seemingly pointless this conflict was in the first place. If these two boys could get along so well, why can’t all Protestants and Catholics in Belfast? In this way, the innocence of the two boys shows that hate is taught, and the removing of oneself from cultural contexts can actually lead to people getting along better.
On the other hand, however, a lack of knowledge of cultural contexts can be seen to be a willful ignorance of pressing issues. For example, even the peace-loving MLK lamented the inaction of the white moderate, who did not fully understand the plight black people faced in America. Likewise, black revolutionaries saw their more moderate counterparts as not doing enough to protect black peoples’ interests. That is, they believed them ignorant to the fact that violence was the only solution to their problem given the cultural context America found itself in.
Together, both points lead to a complex view of innocence and ignorance. Does ignoring social contexts lead to peace, or is it necessary to find a solution that addresses said contexts? It is hard to know for sure, as both points, I believe, have merits. I think this distinction, though, is an important one to realize going forward in our studies.

Throughout our class discussion of Mojo Mickybo, we deliberated the themes of childhood innocence (or in the case of Mojo and Mickybo, the lack thereof) and the power of childhood imagination. I do not agree with the notion that Mojo and Mickybo lost their innocence once Mickybo’s Da was killed, and his death finally brought to light the Catholic vs. Protestant conflict that the two friends were going against; the notion that only direct violence to one of their families was enough to make them understand the conflict around them and draw a wedge between the friendship. 

I think Mojo and Mickybo were forced to grow up without innocence – they were never innocent to begin with, which is why imagination was such a large part of their friendship and childhood. Growing up in Ireland during a time of serious civil unrest, it was impossible for Mojo and Mickybo to grow up shielded from what was going on around them. Starting from where the boys lived and the lifestyle the two boys lived, it is immediately clear that the Catholics were the poor societal class, and Protestants, the wealthy class. Even the way the adults in the play interact with them shows how unconducive life was for a child at the time. 

Fantasy lets the friendship between a Catholic boy and a Protestant boy deal with the harsh reality that they live in a world of violence and abstract hate. Undeniably, their friendship is shocking and seems to be ‘illegal’ during the time. Like we talked about, their friendship is comparable to the friendship formed in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Unheard of during their times. I think the boys were astutely aware of their questionable friendship, but used their imagination to mask the societal pressures trying to pull them apart. So yes, while the death of Mickybo’s dad did inevitably drive their friendship apart, I do not believe that moment made them lose their innocence and lead to their divide. I think that the death of Mickybo’s dad made them lose their imagination and that is what ultimately led to the end of the friendship, because they could no longer deny the conflict going on around them. 

Imagination is a powerful tool, and once reality sets in, there is no going back.

Watching Mickybo & Me and reading Mojo Mickybo has given me the most enlightening insight into the relationships that developed, or didn’t develop, between those on different sides of the “bridge” in Northern Ireland during the 68′ era. Throughout the class so far, it is hard to try and imagine and understand how people could be molded since they were quite little to have contempt for those who believe a different form of the same religion, even if it involved much more than just religion. It’s hard to imagine myself as a 10 or 12 year-old worrying about anything other than the next backyard baseball game with the neighborhood kids. However, this is the environment that children of this era in Northern Ireland lived in constantly.

There are multiple particularly important scenes in Mickybo & Me that I felt illustrated this point exactly. The first time that Mojo travels to Mickybo’s home, Mickybo’s mom asks Mojo, “Are your parents okay with you being here?”. It is clear that Mojo’s presence comes as quite a surprise to Mickybo’s mom. In contrast, a different poignant scene plays out towards the end of the movie after Mickybo’s dad has died. Mickybo, seemingly ignorant to his previous relationship with Mojo, has now joined with Gank and Fuckface in terrorizing Mojo for allegedly stealing Mickybo’s bike. In the scene, I found Mickybo to be quite unsettled, and I would guess this may be the first time where pressure from his community has affected his personal relationships. Even though he knows Mojo has not stolen his bike, I think he is learning that the truth does not matter, the only thing that does is a respect for his community.

After both watching the movie and reading the play, I stumbled across the short summary on the back of my version of the play. The last sentence reads, “The play unsentimentally portrays a kind of innocence betrayed by communal hatred”. “Communal hatred” is what led Mickybo to push Mojo away. I would venture to say that “communal hatred” or some form of communal pressure is what led “The Committee” to push away Teddy in The Informer. This idea has been prevalent in every signal piece we have discussed, a “you vs. us” mentality that trumped any other feelings, but led to dangerous tension and conflict.

We are influenced by the actions of our parents, our friends, our peers, and our teachers. We look to those around us to fill the gaps in our knowledge, and to steady our wavering hands. As children, this need is exacerbated; the exploration of life and love and truth is innate and is fueled by our surroundings. Mojo Mickybo illustrates the depth of this need for others while adding in the role of imagination and the ideologies of temporal society.

The imaginations of Mojo and Mickybo are fascinating. It is even more interesting, however, that the extent to which they align is ten-fold. The question becomes, then, is this alignment innate? Or was it formed out of a need for companionship? For Mojo, it is no secret that his family is in a different situation than that of Mickybo. Even so, he continues to go to Mickybo’s home, speak to his parents, and join forces with him against the bigger, meaner kids in town. If Mojo were presented with the choice to divorce the comfort that his family has to salvage his friendship with Mickybo, I believe that he would. This belief stems from the importance of imagination, and of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid within the play.

Cowboys aren’t really portrayed as having families and religions. In a sense, they’re bachelors living on the land and on the adrenaline of appearing as a “hero”. But since Mojo and Mickybo are still dependent on their parents and are being taught by their actions, the parents are intertwined in their thoughts and imaginations. This is seen when they discuss going to Australia with each of their sets of parents. They would prefer to go as a group. However, when the going gets tough, they go to “Bolivia” alone, truly living out their fantasies of being Butch and Sundance.

I would argue that the need for companionship, and the friendship between Mojo and Mickybo, is stronger than the ideologies of their families because of the extent to which their imaginations run wild. This is further shown when Mickybo describes Mojo as childish when he wants to roll down the hills at the park. Mickybo has “grown up” and his sense of imagination has faltered due to the death of his father; he then becomes committed to the ideology and religion of his family, because those ideas are the connection to the love of his father. Imagination was the link between Mojo and Mickybo.

I understand the “divide of beliefs/ideas within oneself” is a huge connection in the content we have seen so far. More specifically, the conflict a character experiences with their own ideas when faced with traumatic events and backlash from others. A great example of this is the play “Mickeybo and Mojo.” Within the story, Mickybo, a catholic, and Mojo, a protestant, become unlikely friends. During the story, Mickeybo’s father is shot in the head, by the protestants, for being catholic, and this creates an internal struggle within him and his views on Catholics. Mickeybo and Mojo friendships begin to unravel and this demonstrates this divide within the individual’s ideas/beliefs. Mickybo begins to agree with Fuckface and Grank and expresses things to Mojo he doesn’t mean. Mickeybo has now developed a conflicting view of his friend and is now more involved with the tension of his society.

Another example of this internal struggle is presented in the movie Uptight. Within Uptight, Tank has been identified as the informer and this is due to his push back from the black revolutionary group. The group kicks Tank out due to his inconsistent behavior and the threat of this to their cause. This event leads to Tank’s conflict within himself and the decision to betray his friend, Johnny, and the revolution. This betrayal demonstrates an action that goes against Tank’s ideals and beliefs, and this presents the internal struggle this character faces due to ideas from others.

Overall, the content of this class focuses on the conflicts between various groups and how these disagreements play out. Additionally, these opposing views bring internal conflicts within individuals and this creates struggles and actions that go against their beliefs.  

After reading and discussing Mojo Mickybo this week, I definitely gained more of an emotional sense of what went on in Northern Ireland during “The Troubles.” By writing about problems through the eyes of children, Owen McCafferty criticizes Northern Ireland’s culture of violence and division. The portrayal of these young boys’ loss of innocence makes the audience realize the profound impacts of violence and hate that perpetuate society. People tend to see children as universally innocent and deserving of no harm, no matter where they come from or to what group they identify. McCafferty uses this human tendency to demonstrate how the violence and hate perpetuated by the adults in kids’ lives affects how children think, act, and feel. He implies that hate is not a natural human tendency, but is taught to us through socialization. The boys live in a world filled with childlike wonder even though they are surrounded by violence and war. At the end, when the boys are no longer friends, McCafferty shows how there is no hope for unity and friendship among groups as long as the societies that they are living in teach them to hate one another. 

When reading this text, I made the connection to how it is common for young people now to generalize all old people as racist. We mostly attribute it to the generation in which they were born, where they were taught the racism and hate in their households, schools, and other communities growing up. The fact that kids in America now seem to have less racial prejudice than their elders shows that prejudice is not a natural human tendency but taught by society. So although there is still much work to be done in terms of racism in America, today’s children show that there is hope, as long as we try our best to not teach them hate and prejudice.

In Mojo Mickybo, we witnessed the tale of a childhood friendship destroyed by the long-standing tensions between Protestant Unionists and Catholic Nationalists in Northern Ireland.

Mojo, a young Protestant boy, and Mickybo, a Catholic boy, seemed to transcend the brutal conflict that defined the region during “the Troubles” by being friends. However, at the end of the play, the boys get into a fight and later ignore each other as adults; the end of their friendship showed that the Unionist–Nationalist divide was too much for them to overcome.

Mojo Mickybo demonstrated that Northern Ireland during the Troubles was an impossible place for kids to be able to grow up as children. The action that the boys admired in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was actually somewhat present in their lives. Mickybo’s dad was killed and often they would go to sleep to the sound of bombs exploding. They simply could not escape the conflict.

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that one of the greatest threats facing the US Civil Rights Movement was the white moderate. He was afraid of the danger that white moderates who were too afraid to get involved presented. He said this because what the white moderate didn’t entirely comprehend was that the problems black people faced affected nearly every single part of their lives; it wasn’t just a political issue.

Mojo Mickybo is an example of that same concept. The sectarian divide in Northern Ireland affected everything from marriages to childhood friendships. Two boys ultimately couldn’t get along because of which side of the bridge they grew up on. The conflict in Northern Ireland and America during the 60’s and 70’s affected real people’s lives on a deeply personal level. It was inevitable.

One of the topics that we discussed in class is why do we use fiction to depict extreme times of violence and duress in history? The two books that we discussed were Mojo Mickybo, which reflected the violence of the Troubles in Belfast and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which reflects the extreme violence of the Holocaust. Why do we need to come up with stories like these to explain events in history that are already regarded as tragic and catastrophic?

I believe the answer to this question is that by making up these stories, it makes the tragedy real for its readers. For members of the younger generation, the Troubles and other events that occurred decades ago are very hard to relate to on a personal level. Yes, we can recognize struggles of the time and realize how terrible it was, but to a certain extent there is not enough of a personal effect on us to understand the true pain of the time. 

These stories allow people to feel that personal effect. Through reading, we develop a relationship with the characters. We begin to understand their life, thoughts, and emotions, which creates a genuine bond and connection. In Mojo Mickybo, we develop a relationship with the two boys and come to care for them and their friendship throughout the story. This connection makes it even more painful when Mickeybo’s father is shot in the back of the head and killed. Mickeybo’s friendship with Mojo is ended and him and his mother are now left to fend for themselves. This story is sad and although we know it is fiction, it still shines a light on the true pain of the time. The violence of The Troubles in general was not like a Hollywood movie, where killing is always justified and romanticized. The same can be said about the Boy in the Striped Pajamas, when both boys are mercilessly killed, leaving their families shattered. Stories like Mojo Mickeybo and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas shows how violence is often heartless and tears families, friendships, and lives apart. It affects the innocent just as much as those directly involved. This isn’t the story people want to hear, but it is the truth and that is why fictional stories like these hold value. It forces people to acknowledge the true pain and suffering from the time, instead of only looking at the Hollywood version.