Further developments in the pervasive violence or threat of violence in Burns's Milkman

However this novel (Milkman, by Anna Burns) turns out, there's something incredibly frightening about the title character, who stalks the narrator and spies on her every movement; he's a known member of the IRA (setting is Northern Ireland in the 1970s) and works with a cohort of 4 or 5 toughs who always seem to be around him or nearby when he confronts the (unnamed) narrator. At this point, about halfway through the novel, Milkman issues various warnings to the narrator about pipe bombs on cars - a particular threat to her because her "maybe boyfriend" is involved in car parts and car repair. This poor character - a social misfit in almost every way, trying to keep to herself (she's known for walking around town while reading, mostly classic fiction) but part of the point of this novel is the pervasiveness of death, violence, and mayhem at this time and place: We learn only well into the novel that the narrator has lost 2 (or 3?) siblings to the violence that's everywhere as the two side fight it out for territory - a particularly weird and gruesome fight because, to the outsider, and maybe some of the insiders, there isn't a hell of a lot of difference between the two sides, and as the narrator makes clear there are many places where the two sides - Catholic and Protestant - interact peaceably, in bars and pubs, in the adult education program, for example. But this peaceable existence can be blown a part in a second, through terrorist bombs, sniper fire, muggings - and it happens all the time - losing a family member is just routine business. Some developments at this point in the novel: We learn that the narrator's 3 "wee sisters" are amazingly precocious learners; we learn that a group of brave souls have formed a women's caucus and support group, to the anger and ire of many, including the IRA; we meet another milkman, this one that's really his profession, who is assumed by most in the "area" to be an unfriendly sort, but he takes the narrator under his wing a big - he's also obviously involved in some kind of relationship w/ her widowed mother - and he suggests she get in touch w/ the women's group, which she believes would be a fatal mistake. In most novels that would be a true foreshadowing, but in this highly unconventional novel it may be just a bit of flotsam that will pass by as the narrator strives to maintain her independence and to salvage her reputation, sullied by the many approaches of the Milkman, which make all the people in her "area" assume she's involved in a relationship w/ him - the exact opposite of what she wants.