So Late in the Day

   In “So Late in the Day,” Claire Keegan explores how men like Cathal, who is considered as a “bad Irish specimen” represent a wider issue affecting Western society. The story starts with pity for Cathal's loneliness and ends up showing his lack of emotional intelligence and sexism that led to break up. Keegan captures well the character of Cathal through minor things like his meanness and finally his pathetic state. Nevertheless, this approach undermines the impact of direct misogyny on the reader's opinion but still one cannot question its powerful depiction, yet they look forward to more of her unique storytelling voice. 

 ‘She also said that to some of you, we are just cunts,' she went on, ‘that she often hears Irish men referring to women in this way, and calling us whores and bitches. We had reached the end of the bottle and had not yet eaten but I remember clearly– that's what she said.'