Ballina

Ballina, a fictional town in County Mayo, Ireland, is depicted as a small, rural, and isolated setting that profoundly impacts the novel’s characters and themes. Its remote, insular nature contributes to the characters' feelings of confinement and entrapment, reflecting their personal struggles and limited opportunities. The town's isolation amplifies the sense of vulnerability and desperation, as its inhabitants are cut off from broader support systems and solutions. Ballina’s close-knit yet fragmented community underscores the novel's themes of complicity, moral compromise, and the consequences of being ensnared in a web of criminality.

Dev’s House

Dev's house in the novel serves as a crucial setting, symbolizing his internal conflict and the hidden complexities of his situation. The house, with its basement where Doll is held captive, represents Dev's repression of his culpability and the weight of his involvement in the Ferdias’ criminal activities. The house’s isolation...