Setting

Physical setting

The short story “To Keep the Faith” by Michael Becket takes place in a town in Northern Ireland.

The reference to Siobhan’s husband being murdered by the Army in Derry helps us place the time setting between 1972, when the incident known as “Bloody Sunday” happened, and the year when the story was published (1982). Therefore, the events in the story occur at the height of the Troubles. The action takes place across several days in the month of May.

The McGrath home becomes a desolate place to Jean after she receives news of her husband’s death: “He left her there in the cold room with the loud clock...