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The short story takes place in Ireland, where the secrets of a upper class family is revealed.
the 1st person narrator in this short story, Declan is the son of a senator. When Declan was nineteen, he and his father spend a summer together at his job as a summer barman at Moriarty Castle Hotel. The narrator finds out that his father the senator who is the representative for the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, is drinking, and having an affair. The father gets a heart attack while arguing with his mistress Artemis Sheehy. The senator dies and Artemis Artemis give birth to a son which she and Declan pretend to be parents to off.

Section B: Write an essay about the text.
“Rum and Coke” is an Irish short story from 1996 written by Julia O' Faolain. The whole story is told by the narrator Declan as a flashback, which leads the reader from past events to the present.
The story takes place in Ireland, where we are introduced to a senator and his family from the upper class society.
One could imagine that as Senator he gets a lot of attention from the public or the media, he is defiantly well- known and a public figure in the society.
Senator Leary, is illustrated as a man of principals, strong religious and ethical standards. He is portrayed this way but, this is just a an act. He is not a "unique being" with high moral standards, and personality as Jim Carey. He is a flowed being. If one were unfaithful, drinking and lying he probably not be defined as a good person with good values etc.
The public is fooled by this man:

"The common good
came before that of the individual. And he, a man in the public eye, must neither alienate
voters nor weaken his own influence for doing good. What the eye didn’’t see didn’t
matter.” (Lines 27-30)

This means that he as an individual, can do anything he please as long the public is not informed about his hidden agenda.
Declan the son is asking his father of his conscience ,and the father answers, is only between him and his God. By this chat with his son, one can see that he do not believe in one specific God in this case The Roman Catholic God. He believes instead that there is more than just one God and that is kind of ironic, knowing his “strong religious” believes.

The narrator Declan is still fascinated by his father well knowing of his father’s limitations at this period of time, but he still want to impress him. “I was desperate to impress him.” (Lines 53-54). Why is it that this nineteen year old man, still seeks desperate attention from his father?
It is because of the special bond between a son and his father, Declan know that his father is not what the people around him might think, but he is still his father, and he is still fond of the great personality his father has.
The mistress Miss Sheehy she is the symbol of the forbidden lust. She is characterised as a gorgeous young woman but the reader is warned from her “…curtain of dark hair for hiding behind” (Line 65).In Greek Mythology Artemis was the goddess of the wilderness, the hunt and wild animals, and fertility. This is very relevant in this text, the author has called her Artemis for a special reason. Her relationship with the father is animal like, almost as a hunt, with the father she is like a lioness who want the king of nature. She has feelings involved in their affair while the father just she her as a object that can fulfil his lust. Declan is also fascinated by this woman but condemn her in the beginning, but slowly he also let his lust take over.“Outcast, beautiful Miss Sheehy. I kissed her and it was she who slapped me. ” (Lines
145-146). He is fascinated by her, but she slapped him because he was nor ready to be king before the dead of the "Lion".

There are numerous fascinating themes in the this Irish short story; Love, facades, lust, moral standards, Religion.
But it is almost like the author has mixed these themes to one big theme which is Life. The Title of this short story “Rum & Coke” demonstrate this, by using Rum and Coke which is 2 alike ingredients, that compliment each other in one legendary drink.
Rum is personified as Artemis, because rum is the symbol of lust and mystery
as we see it in Artemis’ role. Coke is a alcohol free drink
that personified the Senator, on the contrary to Artemis is he is carefree. Both coke and rum as single ingredients has negative things about them, but together they create a wholeness.