The Bishop's Man

From only a short excerpt from “The Bishop’s Man” written by Linden MacIntyre, we discover that the protagonist in this novel is Father MacAskill. Reading so little of the actual book itself, Father MacAskill comes off as a character that has a rough past. A past in which he does not want to share, he is a man of mystery. Also, fairly comfortable with his self images as he says: “I was approaching the age of fifty, a psychological threshold only slightly less daunting than death, and found myself not much changed from forty or even thirty. If anything, I was healthier.” This short passage is describing how even though his age the Father is comfortable in his own skin at an older age.

The rough past had all begun at a young age for Father MacAskill, he was the son of a bastard father and his mother had passed away due to tuberculosis. He was isolated as a kid and had nowhere to go. He then finds his future and works as a priest, as well as dean of students at a catholic school. Another characteristic was that not only was he a religious man, but he was very friendly and well liked in his community. An example of this was when he spoke to the fishermen and his son. However, as the chapter approaches the end, Father MacAskill meets up with the Bishop and his mood changes. His mood changed from a relaxed personality to an uptight and worrisome person.

The reader really only gets to know the personality of another character and that is the Bishop in this excerpt. A character who is dedicated to his job and cares about others. He cares for the Father, because he tries to protect him and move him to a safe place in Creignish.

MacIntyre’s direct speech is very well written, as it is easy to imagine the characters and what kind of setting or mood they are in. His writing is especially clear and to the point when he uses direct speech.

“After what you’ve been through down south,” he said, “you’ll probably consider this kind of Mickey Mouse. But things are getting out of hand here. Dear old John the Twenty-third, God rest his soul . . . he had no idea what he was getting us all into.”

This passage creates a good amount of suspense of what is going to happen to Father MacAskill. The direct speech used by the writer is very effective in ineeresting the reader in the novel.