The Twelfth Day of July

 

 

Inhaltsangabe auf Englisch für die einzelnen Kapitel

1   The Seventh Day of July

The first chapter takes place in a Protestant street. Tommy and Sadie Jackson are already looking forward to the 12th day of July which is a Protestant celebration day. Before dinner Mr Jackson asks his children why they are celebrating this day. After her mother tried to hit her Sadie flees from the kitchen into the street. The Jacksons' house doesn't look like the other houses in the street. That's because of a paiting on the front side. It shows a mural of William of Orange. On the street Tommy and Sadie meet Steve and Linda who want to go to Mrs McConkey's shop to get some decorations. While they are buying the bunting a red-haired boy says that his street will look the best. So he and the four friends from the other street make a bet that their street will look the best.

2   Down with King Billy

The McCoys are in their house and talk about the Protestants. Later Brede leaves the house and meets Kate.Together they go to buy some chips. Leaving the shop they meet a group of boys. Kevin, one of these boys, talks with Brede and Kate about their intention. They want to  paint "Down with King Billy" on one house of the Protestants to provoke them.


3   Act of Provocation

Evening, Sadie is upstairs in her room when she hears two boys talking about the mural on the gable wall of their house. She runs downstairs and sees that DOWN WITH KING BILLY has been painted on the mural. Running after them she catches one of the boys but has to let him go again. Meanwhile a crowd of angry neighbours has gathered in front of the mural and Sadie swears revenge.


4   A Summons to Tyrone

Kevin arrives at home from his adventures in the Protestant area- saying to his father that nothing has happened.

The next morning everybody knows what Kevin and Brian did the night before.

Mr. McCoy is a bit proud of his son but Mrs. McCoy in annoyed about what her son has done.

The McCoys get a telegram from Kevin's aunt that Bede's and Kevin's grandmother is ill. So Kev's parents decide to drive down to Tyrone with uncle Albert's car.

First uncle Albert's car doesn't start - everybody has to push but in the end they leave the kids alone at home.

Kevin is in a great mood and suggests to have a party.


5   The Eighth Day of July

Sadie, Tommy, Steve and Linda have worked hard, so that they have money for buying some ice at Mrs Mc Conkey's shop. After this Sadie and Tommy are going alone to a shop where paint is sold. So they buy orange paint which they hide under the bed when they come home. At night they both get outside with the paint to go to the Catholic area. When they are painting the wall with "GOD BLESS KING BILLY, NO POPE HERE" and try to run away, Sadie is caught by Brian.


6   The Ninth Day of July

After having being caught by Catholics, Sadie is brought to the McCoys' by Brian (chap.5).

Now she's sitting in a Catholic house, wondering that it's similar to a Protestant house. She really hasn't expected that...

Brede offers her some tea, because she doesn't agree with Kevin's unfriendly behaviour.

An argument starts between Kevin and Sadie, they both do not accept the other's opinion.

While Kevin says that Protestants lie and that they are slaves to a man who's been dead for more than

300 years, Sadie compares the Catholics with a pack of sheep, doing just what they're told to and she is of the opinion that they are slaves to a man in Rome they've never set eyes on.

Later Sadie is allowed to leave the McCoys' house without any problems.

But Kevin doesn't leave it as this.The next day he and Brian decide to go for a walk through the Protestant area.

And there they meet Sadie again, and she's not alone.


7   A Fight and a Fire

Kevin and Brian walk over to the Protestants' area and have a look at the mural of Sadie's house. An argument starts with the Protestant teens and a constable and a priest calm them down, avoiding a fight.

To raise some more money Sadie starts making and selling chips but sets the kitchen on fire when the ginger-haired boy annoys her outside.


8   Mrs Jackson Gets a Fright

Mr Mullet and Mr Jackson go to the pub and the children are in their beds. Mrs Jackson and Mrs Mullet sit together in the Mullets' kitchen. They speak about the burned kitchen and their girls. Mrs Mullet says that she would kill her Linda if she did something like that to her. But Mrs Jackson says that Linda was with Sadie. So they discuss while they sit together. Sadie is in her bed. She thinks of the kitchen and the flames. Also, she wonders what they are doing on the other side... Kate, Brede, Kevin, Brian and a few other people have a party. After the party Brian and Kevin cross over the street and go into the Protestant area. They see that there has been a fire. Kevin steps into the kitchen and opens the kitchen door, but suddenly Mrs Jackson comes in and cries: "Who is there?" 


9   No Surrender

Mrs. Jackson tells her family why she got a fright. Tommy should go to the police. Meanwhile Sadie goes to the McCoys' house. She breaks into the house and puts the light on. She wants to let Kevin know that she was there. She writes some words with a biro on the wooden table. KING BILLY WAS HERE. LONG LIVE KING BILLY. When she is doing that Kevin looks at her: She throws flour at him, flees into the backyard and goes over the backwall. She hides in a dustbin, because she is searched by the Catholics. Luckily nobody finds her.


10   No Sign of Sadie

Kevin has watchers in all the streets around, so that they are able to discover Sadie, in case she tries to escape. When he sees Brian sitting cross-legged with a cramp on the street nodding his head, he decides to guard this side by himself, because Brian doesn't seem to be a very good guard. And who knows, maybe Sadie already got passed him. In Kevin's opinion the things that Sadie did can't get unchallenged.For him it was an act of provocation. And the fights will only end when the other side admits defeat. After he has been sitting there for quite a while he decides to go to bed because he's convinced that Sadie already got home.


11   The Tenth Day of July

Mr. Jackson wants to wake up Sadie for breakfast, when he sees that she didn't lie in her bed the whole night.
The Jacksons ask themselves where Sadie could be but they think that she would come back soon whereever she might be now. While Mrs Jackson prepares the lunch, Sadie is not there at all and she wonders if she can hold Sadie's lunch warm.
But Sadie is not there in the evening as well, so Tommy and some other children go around to look for her. When they don't find her in the Protestant area, they go into the Catholic quarter to search her there.
A couple of Catholic teenagers is standing around in the street. Tommy asks, if they have seen his sister, but they say that they didn't meet her. So Tommy leaves the Catholic quarter to go home.


12   Sadie Discovered

In this chapter Kevin and Brede want to find Sadie because she disappeared the day before. They think that she would have hidden in any of the backyards of the houses in this street. Both make a plan that their friends will make some noise with bang drums and yell at the frontside of the houses while they will be looking around in the backyards. After doing this they still haven't found her. They think that she has gone into any house. Mr Mooney's one is the most thinkable because he left the day before. They go into the house through the frontdoor which isn't locked. They look in all rooms and at last they find Sadie in the kitchen. She says that she couldn't leave because Kevin and his friends were patrolling down the street. When Sadie wants to go Kevin catches her by her arm and says that he will let her go if she cleans their kitchentable which she has made dirty. They all leave Mr Mooney's house and suddenly Sadie screams for help.


13   A Confrontation

In this chapter Sadie's father and a few other men from the Protestant quarter are searching for Sadie. When the Protestants and the Catholics meet, a policeman is very busy to keep the men away from each other. Suddenly Sadie comes out of the house and tells the people that she was kidnapped by the Catholic children. This is the reason of the argument that nearly develops into a struggle. At the end of this chapter, Mr McCoy arrives at home and gets a fine because of his rotten car.


14   The Eleventh Day of July

The Eleventh Day of July is the night when the bonfires are lit. All Protestants are looking forward to it,   especially Sadie. Sadie pulls on her outfit for the 12th and marches through her room, she is practicing for the event.
Later Sadie and the others collect flammable materials for a bonfire. After that their buntings are damaged  by the ginger haired boy who tried to sabotage the competition of the best buntings in the street, so they buy new buntings. After the minister took a look at the buntings and decided to draw the competition, Sadie is very angry about that. They start their fire and dance round it, having a lot of fun.

15   On the Other Side

Kate gets some money from her father. So she invites her friends to the zoo. On the way back home, they see the bonfires of the Prods, as they call them. In the evening they go to street which borders the Catholic and the Protestant quarter. There they meet some Protestant children.


16   The Fight

The Protestants and the Catholics begin a fight. They throw stones at each other. Brede is hit by a stone and she has to be brought to hospital by an ambulance.


17   The Glorious Twelfth

Although looking forward the march, Sadie and Tommy don't  want to walk anymore. They decide to go to hospital to visit Brede. There they meet Kevin who tells them that Brede will soon be OK.. After this message, Kevin, Tommy and Sadie decide to go to the beach together. There they spend a nice day and they ask themselves why Protestants and Catholics can't live together peacefully.

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Inhaltsangabe auf Englisch für das ganze Buch:

The Twelfth day of July

The book „The Twelfth day of July“ takes place in Ireland in the streets of

Belfast. There are two groups with different religions. The Protestants and

the Catholics. In the Protestant area there is a mural, which is the pride

of the street. It is the picture of William of Orange called King Billy and

his famous horse on the wall with the inscription „No surrender“ It 39746jmh16mho4j

commemorates the battle of Boyne, which was fought in 1690. William of

Orange, a protestant defeated the Catholics under the command of James II.

Every Protestant child knows the story because the religious education is

very strict in both areas. The tale of the siege of Derry is important for mh746j9316mhho

that conflict. Thirteen young apprentice boys closed the gates of Derry

against the Catholic soldiers. James II confident that the city must

surrender, went to the walls of Derry himself to demand it, but the

Protestant citizens lined the walls and shouted: “No surrender“. So the

Protestants celebrate that victory on the 12th of July every year. They

decorate the streets, wear costumes and march through the streets.

Steve, Linda, Sadie and Tommy are very good friends who live in the

Protestant area. They love their town and they look forward to the twelfth

of July. Not far from the Protestants live the McCoys, a Catholic family

with seven children. They hate the celebrations. Both of these two families

also dislike the other religion. Many times the children play tricks or

provoke each other. One day Brede, Kate and Kevin who are Catholic friends

paint „Down with King Billy“ under the mural in the Protestant area and so

the fight begins. After that evening the Prods know that they take revenge

on the Catholics. In the morning the McCoys get a telegram from the hospital

in Tyron that their grandmother is very sick. So their parents drive to her

aunt and the seven children must live alone in the house. On the other side,

in the Protestant area Sadie has a plan. When dusk begins to fall she goes

in the catholic district and takes paint and brushes with her. She is sure

that there is no one who can see her. Sadie obliterated the words „The Pope

„ to substitute for the word „King Billy“. After some minutes she wants to

get back to her quarter. Suddenly Brede and a Catholic stand at a distance

of some metres beside her. Sadie tries to run away but doesn’t know that her

shoelaces are opened and so she falls on the ground . Brede catches Sadie

and brings her to Kevin. They let Sadie go back to her home but she must

clean the wall by rights. In the Prod’s area the anticipation is very big

because the 12th comes nearer and nearer. Every child works to get money to

buy the decoration for the glorious twelfth but Sadie also starts working

on a new trick. At night she goes to the McCoys house and printed these

words on the table: “King Billy is here, long live King Billy“. Kevin stands

still in the doorway and observes Sadie. Sadie sees him timely and runs

away. She hides under a wall because she can’t get home. Kevin and other

guards look at her the whole night with their torches. At home they don’t

know where Sadie is. Tommy and his friends look for Sadie but there is no

sign of her. Tommy believes that she was going to Kevin. He says that he

hasn’t seen her but Brede tells that she was here last night and messed the

kitchen.

Kevin says, they don’t know where she is now. Then Brede and Kevin search

Sadie and find her in an old house . She must clean the kitchen table and

then she can go home. When they bring Sadie home two policemen and Sadie’s

family come and catch them. Sadie says that the Catholics kidnapped her, but

Kevin shouts that he hasn’t done anything. So the quarrel begins. The

policeman wants to clear this situation but without success. On the next day

there is bonefire night. All the Protestant children celebrate a party,

dance round the fire and sing songs.

Brian, Kate, Tommy and Sadie go to the boundary and scream swearwords into

the other area.

Many Protestant children come quick from every direction and throw with

large stones. Suddenly a stone falls high over the heads and it catches

Brede full of the side on her head. Brede is hurt. Sadie kneels beside her

and the ambulance comes. They put Brede on a stretcher. The ambulance also

takes Kevin, Tommy and Sadie with them. In the hospital waiting room Kevin

excuses for his behaviour. In the morning the doctor says that Brede gets

healthy. On the following day there is the twelfth of July. Sadie won’t keep

it with her family. She goes to Kevin and they walk around the beach and

have fun. They are friends now and from that time on there are no problems

between their families.

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Sadie schreibt in ihr Tagebuch , warum sie nicht mit auf den Marsch geht

Dear diary !

Sometimes it seems, as if everything is wrong in the world. Yesterday evening my brother Tommy and I decided to go for a walk with our friends, to watch the other bonfires. Of course, ours was the best!
But soon I had the feeling that it weren't really the bonfires we were interested in...
We came near the Catholic area...  Some other children followed us, they seemed to be interested in looking what the other side did on this day, too.

Well, dear diary, it was very exciting.
When we arrived at the street which is between our Protestant area and the area of the Catholics, we were able to see that we were not the only ones who didn't want to stay where they belonged to..

On the other side of the road stood a crowd of young Catholics. Also, Kevin and Brede stood there. Suddenly one of them threw a stone, one of us started to throw a stick, and in less than a minute a real fight had begun. It wasn't planned, but it was a fight with a terrible end. Brede was just standing behind the group. She didn't throw anything. But one of us, one of the Protestants - and it really does NOT matter WHO it was - threw a big piece of wood in Brede's  direction.She ducked but wasn't quickly enough.The stick touched her head badly and  poor Brede fell down on the ground. Why just Brede?!?
I never expected that I could have something like feelings of friendship for a Catholic. But I really was shocked and thought: You have to help her! So I went through the crowd  although somebody screamed that I shouldn't go on the other side ,"they would kill me". But  that  wasn't  interesting. The other children, Steve and Linda, too, and I'm very angry about them because  they let us down so badly, ran for their lives. The only persons who were left were Kevin, Tommy, the injured Brede and of course I. The police came and Kevin called an ambulance.
When we sat in the hospital I felt as terrible as I've never felt before. I knew that these stupid fights between Catholics and Protestants HAVE to end. Catholics are not our enemies. Brede was my friend...
Thanks godness that she survived !

And of  course I didn't join the march. Although our parents were very angry, Tommy and I stayed at home. The 12 th of July wasn't a day  for celebrating for us anymore.
In the afternoon we visited  Brede in hospital. Kevin was there, too. I was so lucky to hear that the operation had ended well !
Tommy, Kevin and I spent the rest of the day together at the beach. And  we all knew that next time we'll take Brede  with us !!
One thing I know: If I have children in some years, I will NOT teach them to hate people whom they don't even know. Sometimes also your so called "enemies" can be your friends, if  you get to know them. And I've also learned that parents don't always teach their children the right things...

That was all for today, I hope next time I'll be able to write about some good news...

                                                                                                             Sadie

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Main Characters

 

 

 

Brede Brede is shy but sometimes a really resolute person. She says her opinion if she thinks it is the right time for it. She's fair and loyal towards Sadie and the other "Prods". She's without hate and prejudice. I think, she likes Sadie because she wants to be as courageous and self-confident as her.

Kevin McCoy Kevin McCoy is a Catholic youngster and he is of  the same age as Sadie. He is a boy who is looking for excitement and who is often in trouble because of this trait of character and he also likes to command his friends.

Kate Kate is Brede's best friend. She lives in a rich family, her father owns a small business. Every time she sees Kevin, she gets red in her face. Kate is sweet on him, anyway.

Brian Brian belongs to the Catholic side. He is a good friend of Kevin. They are both doing everything together, for example the "wall-painting", but they are different. Kevin is the boss and Brian is his assistant. And sometimes Brian gets on Kevin's nerves.