Content Warning: This section of the Study Guide discusses police brutality, torture, and violence, including the murders of children.

In Prophet Song, Lynch explores how society can easily descend into tyranny. He sets the novel in Ireland, a country contemporarily known as a peaceful and stable nation, turning it into a dystopia controlled by a fascist regime operated by the National Alliance Party.

The novel demonstrates how the tyranny of society is enabled by the support of people who don’t see or care about the threats of authoritarianism. When Larry is arrested and disappears, the entire Stack family becomes the subject of suspicion. Eilish’s boss judges her to be anti-regime because of Larry’s union’s protest. Therefore, when Larry disappears, Eilish doesn’t receive support and empathy but instead, derision and suspicion. When the regime publishes Mark’s name and address because he absconds from mandatory military duty, Eilish loses her job. People in her neighborhood and all over the city hang up the National Alliance Party flag. For some, this could be motivated by a desire to fit in with the changing tides of nationalism and not bring suspicion to their own families. However, others reflect a genuine belief that the government can and should take extreme measures to control its people.