Summary

The short story “The Wall-Reader” by Fiona Barr begins with a woman named Mary looking at the political graffiti written on the walls of Belfast. Mary likes to consider herself a wall-reader as she looks at all the slogans and imagines the lives of those who wrote them. 

Mary often walks her baby past such walls on her way to the supermarket. Although she lives in the time of the Troubles, they do not really affect her and her husband, Sean. They are both middle class and both follow a well-established routine. Mary, however, wishes for more. She wants something to happen that would make people write about her on building walls. 

One afternoon, Mary takes her baby for a walk. This is when she usually reads the graffiti on the walls, only this time, Mary decides to go to the park instead. The park is unpleasant and deserted, but Mary enjoys the silence. She pushes the pram up the hill and sits down on a bench.

As she sits there, she hears a cough from a nearby gun turret and she turns around to see that there is someone there. A voice with an English accent asks her about the baby and Mary answers, telling the soldier that this is her first child. The English soldier tells her about his son. After a while, the two finish th...