Characters In Reckoning

Father

Luke John McCarthy/Carty

Early Life

Luke was 17 when his father died

Luke's mother gave birth to 13 children, but only 3 survived

At 17, Luke had lost his father and 10 of his siblings

He changed his last name to Carty to attempt to erase his irish culture

Before the war

They were living in ruins

No proof that Grandfather Luke was in the IRA

Luke was working in a hotel + alcohol store

Luke was sent to prision for 3 years by stealing food and tobacco

War Period

When he was released out of prision, WW1 was already started

200,000 irish men join the fight

Luke joined the army 5 days after leaving prision becuase he was too poor

Blown up body parts and dead Englishmen were on the battlefield that he had to cross

After the war

Luke got discharged in 1918

"sickness" Having Shellshock

His shellshock made him have rage fits

Very distant with his children

His shellshock made him want everything to be quiet, including his children

Returned to ireland and then moved to scotland

Overcame his shellshock

Family

Raised 3 Children

Died at the age of 62

Mother

Meg

Physically absent - working a lot, while peter is somewhat emotional absent

Still very supportive of Magda

Experiences loneliness and disconnection in Australia - Similar to Ashima?

Early Life

Migrated from England to Australia when she was 5

Subtopic

Adult life

Challenges

Struggles with sexuality

Worried about what her parents would say

Disowned

Cultural context in Australia during the 70's onwards was very conservative sexual fluidity was not generally accepted, many people were in fear for being 'outed'

Catholic upbringing

"My God was not a god of love. He was a pre-Vatican god of fear and damnation." - 85

makes it even harder for her to come out

Parents

Feels guilt after coming out to her parents

Underestimated them, misjudged their reaction

Father

Sometimes feels belittled by her father

Still treats her as a child (sometimes)

"Stone of Madness"

The way of coping

The ways that Peter and Magda try to deal with same and identity is to bury the problem

Is this part of the stone of madness?

Literature

Important in finding her identity, Leon Unis - 93 -> depictions of Poles is worse than Magda imagined

Chapter tells us what the Polish really did during the war

"I knew we were on the same side, the good side" - 93

"Tell me! Were the Poles as bad as the Germans?" - 95

"Some, Magda, some. You always have a choice. Some people did the right thing." - 95

Both Ashoke and Zbigniew think that a new start in the western world will help them overcome challenges of the past

Early Life

Born and Grew up in Warsaw

Only a teenager when Poland was invaded

He was 15 when the war broke out

During the war

Couldn't bear to watch Jewish Holocaust

A key figure in the resistance

Was part of the underground government's execution squad

Dark and tormenting job

In 1943, he graduated from the Underground Officer School to become a member of the elite secret unit 993W commanded under the polish government in exile and are responsible for carrying out executions

993W would Kill anyone who betrayed poland, even their own people

He had to Catch bad buys and shoot them in the face from close up

"Not easy to kill your own"

German Police everywhere

Fought the uprising against the germans

Captured back strategic areas around warsaw

The uprising would wail without the Soviet's hep

But the soviet army stood idle becuase they wanted a post war Poland to take without any reistance fighters

Any captured ristance fighters were shot on the spot

Soviet army stood idle becuase they wanted a post war Poland to take without any reistance

ANy captured resistance fighters were shot on the spot

SS soldiers went from door to door executing any women and children

20,000 people were murdered in the first ten days of the uprising

We accepted the fact we could die, it was the price of war

"We never expected that the Germans would be so cruel"

Constantly bombarded and fighting from street to street, the polish strugged to hold on, but the soviets did not come to their aid

200,000 people died in the war??

The soviet army would then advance after a month to a city in ruins

Liberating a broken city

Escaped to scotland

After the war

Magda meets an old war buddy of Zbigniew and tells us that...

He was a born leader

Full of Homor

Gave Magda, Zbiniew's letters

"Boys, we're starting the fight against the Germans"

"We've lived to see ths moment"

"It's started. We must assemble at the Evangelical Cemetry"

It was Zbigniew's 20th birthday in the cemetry at the first hour of the uprising

After a month of fighting a losing battle, survivors and fighters tried to flee their old town though the city sewers

Last time he saw Zbigniew was at 7 o'clock when he want into the sewer. 2 September 1944

Those who didnt escape and surrendered were sent to POW camps

Felt lucky to have survived the war when so many others didn't

Cathloic for traditions, but didn't really follow religon

Wants to let go of his past life, absolute assimilate

Challenges

Trauma - feels guilt for killing Polish collaborators during the war

Hides this from his family

Purposely vague about details

Acts as if he's buried the guilt thorugh successful migration

However, the "stone of madness" remains

Hiding(repressing) his shame worsens it "calcified guilt"

Strugges to connect with his children

Places very high expectations on the children

He wants his children to have the privliaged that he never had

Puts a lot of emphasis on education becuase he missed out on it

Tennis

Trepanning - PG 365

"I was always terrified that one of my kids would be a traitor" - 365

"He was trying to cure me of weakness"

He didn't want his daughter to be weak, just like the people during the war??

Names

Zbigniew -> changes to "Peter" willingly. Another way to assimilate

Epistemological violence

The changing to a 'normal' western name, - the idea that western ways are superior

Wants to change his name to get rid of his past

Zbigniew Szubanski experiences epistemological violence during his settlement in 1960's Australia, willingly adapting the name "Peter' in an effort to assimilate and firther suppress his dramatic Polish past.

"With all of his might he tried to reason it out of existance" - 366

Hiding his past

Dispite his efforts to hide the past, his family are undoubtedly impacted by this second hand trauma

intergenerational trauma

transgenerational trauma

Father

Mieczyslaw

Life

Born in Warsaw 1894

Worked as a policeman until he
left due to corruption

Zbigniew was in awe of his
'impeccable moral character' 19

Family had been affluent with
photos of them on holiday

'Mieczyslaw was a harsh task master.' 102

Mother

Jaduiga

'My mother was a brave woman...' 302

Chapters

'The stone of madness' 314

'Leon Uris' - 93

'My father's people' 19