I could hear through the window children saying 'Break its neck'.
The focus of this section falls on Peter's abuse of Immaculate, his anger then shifting on the narrator (14, 15). While the scene is unfolding, a cat's screams of agony are heard by Peter's brother. At the end of the scene it turns out that the neighbour's children have killed his cat - they have tried to burn it and have broken its neck (15, 16). This detail depicts the influence of the community's actions on children. Usually seen as pure and innocent, children look up to adults in their lives and take examples from their mannerisms and actions. Inspired by the adults' behaviour, such as Peter's domestic violence, the police's brutal methods of suppression, the horror of the guerrilla wars, the hatred, within the society, the children of this generation have become vicious, brutalising the animal (their neighbour's pet) without any given motive.