Translations By Brian Friel Analysis

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The Power of Language in “Translations” by Brain Friel

Brian Friel, “Translations” emphasizes the powerful way language impacts people, their identity and culture in a small rural town of Baile Beag, Ireland. Friel connects language to social and political issues that are invading Ireland by the British, exposing the unbridgeable gap between the two different cultures; also he uses symbolism and two distinctly different dialects. The narration of the story has two distinctly different dialects, English and Gaelic. This distinction provides the reader with an understanding of language being an essential aspect and way of interaction in our daily lives. Language is a way to inform people around us of our feelings, thoughts, desires, questions and understanding of the world around us. Communicating effectively by words, tone of voice and gestures betters ourselves and relationships. The main idea of this play is the powerful way language impacts people, by portraying their beliefs, theirs traditions and their individuality. By changing the language of their culture, it …show more content…

At the beginning of the play we see Sarah struggle with this simple task, creating a barrier for her and her identity. Having a speech defect and only able to communicate through grunts, causing her to not even be able to utter her name isolating her to her self and not being able to fully communicate her thoughts to others. With Manus's help she learns to pronounce her name, and he tells her “. . . Nothing will stop us now! Nothing in the wide world!” (3). Yet at the end of the play when Captain Lancey orders Sarah to tell him her name, though her mouth opens she is unable to mutter a sound. Instead Sarah closes her mouth and lowers her head, illustrating Irish people’s difficulty in adopting their culture and identity. Ultimately the soldiers presence makes the people forget about their identity and the difficulty in attained

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