WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT THE NARRATOR’S LIFE BEFORE THE BOMBING ?
HOW DOES HE SOUND FIRST?

Even though/ Despite the fact that he wasn’t much educated, he managed to / succeeded in find(ing) a blue-collar work in a factory as well as a serious girlfriend. It was a good omen/sign for his life to come that would prove steady at last.
Indeed, he would have even got married. Therefore/thus we can assert that the narrator sounds optimistic/ is full of hop/hopeful so far, in spite of the inner conflict that tears Ireland/ of the fact that Ireland was the scene of a conflict between the Catho and the Protest.
The narrator didn’t pay attention to the conflict/ he seemed not to be affected by the Troubles and mocked reality.
WHAT IS THE POWER OF LOVE?
As far as the narrator is concerned, love is a means to bridge the gap between the two different communities.

HOW DOES HE SOUND IN THE SECOND PART,
Nevertheless, the narrator has been caught up/ hit him in the face by the latter for his sister got wounded/injured in a bombing in a pub. He sounds determined/ resolute. He is all the more so determined that from then on, he has turned his love into hatred since he swore he would never go out with a Catholic girl any more. The bombing triggered his resolution to fight.

WHAT DOES THE LAST SENTENCE REVEAL?
It means that hatred, a spirit of revenge, ignorance and bigotry (fanatism) can change a man’s mind overnight. He has reached a point of no return. He knows that from then on his hatred/ his resentment will make him fight the Catholics. Shooting through his girlfriend’s window/ taking out on (s’en prendre à) his girlfriend was a symbolic act: to prove fimself he could avenge the bombing in the