Deane takes the theme of haunting and weaves it into his novel in order to reveal something much more complicated than merely the mystery of the history one family refuses to deal with. The family and their ghost reveal the intricacies of the Northern Irish society. These two things reveal the use of history by several different authorities to colonize and subjugate this people, by steering them away from the realities that truly affect them. The simple truth of the what Deane illustrates is history and the past will not go away and they will always be present.