Prophet Song

Larry Stack is Eilish’s husband. As a teacher’s union leader, he is among the first to be arrested and detained without charge in the new regime. Larry’s disappearance serves as the novel’s inciting incident and represents a major shift in society. Larry is depicted as committed to his cause and steadfast in his beliefs. His refusal to capitulate to the state is an early example of rebellion and courage in the face of oppression.

Larry’s character contributes more to thematic development than the plot because he is absent for much of the novel. Thematically, Larry supports the power of the family unit, as he serves as Eilish’s metaphorical guiding light through the worst of her ordeals. She often speaks to Larry in her mind and heart, evoking his spirit and their partnership to strengthen her fortitude and help her children cope. Furthermore, her loyalty to him and hope for his return impact her initial decision to stay in Ireland. Through the end of the novel, Larry’s disappearance remains a mystery; it is never confirmed if he is dead or alive. Therefore, Larry’s absence contributes to the novel’s tension.

Mark Stack is the eldest of Eilish and Larry’s children. He is 16 years old when the authoritarian regime takes over the Irish government. Mark is old enough to grasp the effects of totalitarianism and is quickly forced to give up his childhood. As a young adult, he is coming into his own identity and developing his own opinions. Therefore, as much as Eilish wants to keep him under control and in her household for safety, Mark is adamant about taking the future into his own hands. The new regime directly impacts Mark’s life when a military summons forces him to drop out of school. Mark is characterized through his defiance of authority and his courage. After he leaves home and joins the rebel army, Mark is absent for the remainder of the novel and, like his father, exists primarily as a metaphorical anchor that keeps Eilish in the country.

Mark represents the potential for young people to be the change they want to see in the world. His future is directly threatened by the state, more so than his younger siblings. He turns anger into advocacy, rather than escaping to safety. However, Mark’s decision to join the rebel army haunts his mother and brings up questions of violence. As Eilish witnesses that the rebel army is capable of brutality and terror itself, Lynch implies the possibility that Mark, too, has been turned into a killer or an abuser or has otherwise given up part of his moral code. Eilish wants to wait for Mark to return before leaving the country, but the mystery of what happens to Mark is never resolved in the narrative. The open-ended conclusion leaves room for hope that Mark is alive and well, but also the possibility Mark has been lost to his cause.

Molly Stack is Eilish and Larry’s 14-year-old daughter. Molly is characterized by her emotional depth. She deals with her father’s disappearance by withdrawing from the things that used to bring her joy. Molly internalizes the destruction going on around her and translates that into self-destruction. She limits her eating and often cries. She tries to help her mother and doesn’t defy Eilish the way her brothers do. Eventually, Molly is unable to get out of bed. Her depression takes over and prevents her from functioning, even for survival.

In the narrative, Molly’s character highlights the relative helplessness of young people in an unstable political or cultural environment. She honors her father by tying ribbons on a tree to count the weeks he’s been missing, a mostly symbolic gesture, as there is little else she can do or contribute. Molly has no other option than to sit back and watch as her family and society are destroyed. Molly is robbed of her adolescence, yet another ripple effect of authoritarianism.

Late in the novel, Molly develops into a pillar of strength and source of resilience for Eilish; after Bailey’s death, Molly keeps the family moving forward to the border. However, Molly is also the target of predatory men who want to take advantage of her youth and femininity. Her family’s circumstances leave her vulnerable, illustrating the abuse that further threatens women in already-violent contexts. Molly’s vulnerability and naivete are a reminder to Eilish that Eilish must let go of the past so that she can better protect Molly from the many forces that will hurt her.

Bailey Stack is Eilish and Larry’s 13-year-old son. Bailey struggles to come to terms with the family’s new reality. He responds to the loss of his father and to his mother’s protective control with aggression and disobedience, as well as behaviors such as wetting the bed. Like Molly, Bailey’s character highlights the psychological destruction that can occur in young people when their lives become unstable and uncertain. Bailey acts out not because he wants to cause more problems, but because he is too young to navigate the traumas of losing his father and older brother and witnessing his country devolve into civil war.

Eilish’s discovery that Bailey has been tortured and murdered at the hands of the state is the novel’s climactic moment. While Eilish never discovers why Bailey was targeted, his injury (during a bombardment) and death emphasize the totalitarian government’s callous treatment and abuse of human beings, including children. When Eilish finally finds his body, it’s only after she is forced to search through corpses in a morgue. Bailey’s death thus serves to illustrate the cruelty of fascism and the destructive impacts of civil war on society’s youngest members.

Eilish’s pursuit of the truth of what happened to Bailey escalates the narrative’s pacing and tension and tone of grief in the novel. Bailey’s death haunts Eilish, but it is also an important turning point in Eilish’s character development because his death is the definitive event that motivates her to flee the country for the sake of her surviving children.