Cushla’s Public Fall

Cushla’s care for the McGeowns and relationship with Michael become entangled in surveillance, accusation, job loss and isolation.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Teacher Under Scrutiny

A Teacher Under Scrutiny Care misread as evidence Cushla takes Davy to school, pays for meals and visits his family. Bradley records her remark that Betty is struggling and refers it to social services. Authority without trust Cushla intended to secure help, not accuse Betty of neglect. The investigation damages the trust she was trying to build and shows how institutional procedures can magnify an informal mistake.

Two Lives Intersect

Two Lives Intersect Separate attachments Cushla teaches Davy and supports his family while secretly seeing Michael. She believes the relationships occupy separate parts of her life, even as small slips connect them. A dangerous overlap Tommy notices her feelings and later becomes linked to Michael through an accidental encounter. The connections are not a conspiracy, but their overlap becomes decisive after the murder.

Interviewed by the Police

Interviewed by the Police Questions and photographs The RUC questions Cushla about Michael, Tommy and her visits to the McGeown home. Surveillance photographs and Tommy’s notebook are used to make innocent relationships appear suspicious. Coercive pressure Disco Peeler suggests she could be detained or made to undress. Cushla leaves without arrest, but the interrogation strips away her sense of safety and ordinary identity.

Removed from Teaching

Removed from Teaching Community reputation Bradley and Father Slattery tell Cushla that her relationship with the McGeowns has made her position untenable. The school treats association as a threat to delicate community relations. Work and identity lost Cushla is pressured to take a year off. Teaching had given her purpose and a public role; its removal leaves her isolated at the very moment she is grieving Michael.

A Town Turns Away

A Town Turns Away Social exclusion Cushla is barred from the pub and watched by neighbours. Her links to Michael and the McGeowns are interpreted through suspicion rather than the acts of care and grief that shaped them. The cost of visibility She retreats into her bedroom, unable to eat or leave the house. The town’s communal boundaries punish her for crossing them, while offering little space to explain herself.

Spring 1975, after Cushla begins helping Davy

Spring 1975, as Cushla visits Michael’s flat

Three days after Michael’s murder

The day after the police interview

Late summer 1975, after Cushla leaves the school