The Stoat Study Guide

John McGahern was an acclaimed Irish novelist and short story writer born in Knockanroe in 1934. His mother raised him on a small farm while also working as a primary school teacher. His mother died from cancer when he was 10, forcing him and his six younger siblings to leave their farm life behind and move to live with their father, a sergeant of the national police force called the Irish Republican Army (IRA). McGahern won scholarships that allowed him to both attend both secondary school and pursue higher education. After studying at St. Patrick’s College of Education, he became as a primary school teacher. McGahern was first published in 1961 when a London-based magazine published an excerpt of his unfinished first novel. The publication of his second novel, The Dark, sparked controversy regarding what the Irish Censorship Board deemed to be inappropriate content, causing McGahern to lose his job as a teacher. He moved to England, taking on a wide variety of jobs, before moving back to Ireland to once again live and work on a small farm. He died of cancer in 2006.

Although “The Stoat” doesn’t directly mention any historical events, it takes place in in 1970s Ireland during “The Troubles.” The Troubles, which lasted from about 1968 to 1998, were a conflict in mostly Northern Ireland between the unionists (loyalists) who wanted Northern Ireland to remain a part of the UK and the nationalists (republicans) who wanted Northern Ireland to become a part of the Republic of Ireland. While the unionists were predominantly Protestant and the nationalists predominantly Roman Catholic, the focus of this conflict was not religious. Fighting occurred primarily between the unionist paramilitary forces and the nationalist Irish Republican Army (IRA), leading to bombings, shootings, imprisonment without trial, and other aspects of civil war. At least 3,600 people were killed and over 30,000 injured. The conflict was finally resolved by a power-sharing agreement between the Irish and British governments. Strandhill, where the story takes place, is relatively close to the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

McGahern’s second novel, The Dark, is similar to “The Stoat” in that it focuses on a main character who is aiming to succeed academically while being faced with a strained relationship with his father. McGahern’s work went on to influence the next generation of Irish writers, including Colm Tóibín, whose novels The Heather Blazing and The Blackwater Lightship mix autobiography and fiction in a manner similar to McGahern was known to do. Tóibín draws on his birthplace and the death of his father in his writing, whereas McGahern drew from his relationship with his father and his relocation as a child. “The Stoat” also relates to Julio Cortázar’s “Axolotl” in its use of animal characters that initially appear unrelated to the human characters and narrative but eventually come to be seen as an embodiment of human characters’ behavior and emotions. This causes a shift in perspective, as the reader is prompted to look back at the passage about the animal through a human lens.