Up to act one, Friel presents us with a tight knit and well-bonded community of people. People bonded by their nationality, culture and language. This of course is extremely ironic (Friel uses irony quite heavily in this play, for example the fact that Jimmy-Jack is called the "infant prodigy", he is in-fact in his late sixties. His name indicates that he has always been at the same precocious level of ability and he is unlikely to advance any further), the fact that the whole play is about the English renaming most of Ireland for conveniences sake. Also the English are teaching most of Ireland how to speak English, moving them away from their traditional Gaelic tongue. The English settlers are breaking up the community.
The community, although it is very tight and strongly bound by tradition and family, is also troubled and varied. The potato crop is failing, the maps are being changed for the convenience of the English, people want to move out of Ireland, (for example when Maire tells Hugh she wants to learn English for when she moves to America). Things appear to be at peace when we are put into this environment and everything seems well at first, but as we look further into it we can see things are much more deep seeded and dark than at first glance. For example, Doalty steals a piece of equipment from some English soldiers; this cheeky mischief seems harmless until we hear about some of the English horses being lead off a cliff to their deaths. Nothing is what it seems in this play, there are many more issues that lurk beneath the rather innocent surface of this seemingly simple, rural community; feelings of hatred and betrayal course through the bodies of many of the populous. What the English are doing is not right, nor is it fair. They have no right to change the identity of a people for their own convenience.
Although there are many negative emotions and feelings running through this community, there are also many positive things among the community.
For example Manus is a very down to earth and loving character. He cares for Sarah as if he was her father and talks to her gently and with love, empathy and consideration. "Yes...good...c'mon girl...you can do it....just try..." et cetera. But there are flaws with this relationship also; Manus views Sarah in a very fatherly light, although Sarah does not view Manus like that at all, she gives him flowers and cares for him in a very separate way.
Translations depicts the cultural take over of Ireland by the British Empire, yet it cannot be said to be simply pro-Irish.’ Consider this comment. English Literature Coursework- ‘Translations depicts the cultural take over of Ireland by the British Empire, yet it cannot be said to be simply pro-Irish.’ Consider this comment on the play. The Cultural take over of Ireland by the British Empire is a central issue in Translations.
...n the play is shown through Parris’ frequent biblical allusions. He is aligning himself with the central values of the community, hoping that this will result in his acceptance and restore his belonging, which is constantly on shaky grounds. However in his desire to relate himself with Godliness and belong to this Christian society, he goes too far and starts to compare himself with God, saying he has “fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me”. This pride and self importance leads to his exclusion by most of the townspeople.
Award-winning author Mandy Hale once stated, “Without negativity, life would be amazing.” However, this statement does not always prove to be true. Today’s modern community generates a judgement that negative experiences will ruin your life, but studies show that negativity can actually result in positive change. For example, negativity can positively change teenagers actions, introduce teenager’s to more supportive environments, and help fix broken relationships.
One of the main themes is slavery, mainly the evil of slavery. At the very beginning of the book, readers are shown the idea that not all slave owners are indeed evil and only care about money. There are some owners who do not abuse or mistreat their slaves, however these ideas are not placed to show that the evil of slavery is conditional, but as a way to show the wickedness of slavery even in the best-case scenario. Due to the fact that even though Shelby and St. Clare show kindness towards their slaves, at the same time their ability to tolerate slavery renders them hypocritical and morally weak. In fact, this is first shown when Shelby shamefacedly breaks apart Tom’s family by selling him. Yet, the most evil of slavery does not render its head until Tom is sold to the Legree plantation, where it appears in its most hideous and naked form; the harsh and barbaric settings where slaves suffer beating, sexual abuse and murder. The play then introduces the shock that if slavery is wrong in the best of case scenario, then in the worst cases it ca...
The Irish Famine is a controversial debate, addressing the response to the English government’s malfeasance. The debate concerns whether the English government should be held liable for the hunger and sorrows of Irishmen. Liam O’Flaherty contributes to this debate through his novel Famine; in it he defines who is to blame for the hunger of the 1840’s. Through his depiction, he suggests that the best response to ease the problem of the famine is by rebelling against the English government. In the novel, there are characters that choose to live in a passive matter and fail at attaining prosperity, while those who rebel get it. O’Flaherty presents three Kilmartin generations, in which we witness differences in character traits and beliefs. For instance Martin Kilmartin, second generation, takes on the role of a rebel and chooses to defy Black Valley’s tycoon, Chadwick. Siding with a solution of aggression to meet justice, O’Flaherty identifies survivors as rebellions, and victims of the famine as pacifists. Furthermore, in his novel, O’Flaherty suggests that the best response to the Irish Famine is through aggression.
this idea. He is sympathetic, kind, and generous, but when his motives are questioned, he
In the story Dubliners by James Joyce, he writes about a few different themes, some of these being autonomy, responsibility, light, and dark. The most important of the themes though must be the individual character in the story against the community and the way they see it. I have chosen to take a closer look at “Araby,” “Eveline,” and “The Dead” because the great display of these themes I feel is fascinating. Many things affect the way the individual characters see the community, for example their family, friends, fellow citizens, or even new places. In Dubliners, the way the characters see the community affects them and other people around them.
Throughout the text Keating connects with people on a personal level through his word choice and tone. This connection with his audience allows him to further develop belonging, and evoke a greater emotional response in his audience. This word choice and tone can be seen in the lines, “We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice.”
The sensation that Shire can finally be understood by her native peers and feel the connection through images of “...memory of ash on their faces.” The barriers that they faced, spoke a lot about who they truly are, but have continued to suffer ever since the point, in which they started flying out to settle somewhere else. Others who have not put themselves in their shoes, have felt the obligation of encountering acceptable roles, languages, customs, notions, and changes in their native land. Shire and her people will begin to disappear little by little, while nobody notices them. Shire asserts that “..tongue against loose tooth.” makes her feel like home once again and is able to cherish her stories. Their definition of beautiness will never scope other’s attraction. Through the back of their minds, all they remember is everything happening so fast that they can’t recall when was the last time they had smile. They have come to comprehend that they were put under control through “curfews” for the sake of safeness in their neighborhood. The “..old anthem in my mouth…” has given Shire the will of “no space” to forget. Although home will never be replaced by its uniqueness, home can also be found by those who were forced to obey and never come back, in a different place in
The issue Swift comments on is the horrendous Irish potato famine currently gripping the region to the north of England. The famine, although a serious issue is grabbed by Swift as an opportunity to critique the crown of England along with a few jousts at both the colonies of North America and the kingdom of France. Swift’s main audience in this piece is the people o Albion, who he entertains through his in his Oxford educated persona along with his irish bias very evident in his writing style. Swift’s argument is presented as a fantastic solution that will cure the irish of awful plight is merely a plea for the kindness of others to take hold and enact the citizens moral duties, as to not allow the Irish to resort to the barbaric tradition of eating one’s own kind.
...derstanding how the colonial discourse molded both the Irish landscape and her people allows for recognition of how colonialism continuously shaped not only Ireland, but England as well. As the variations of the refrain of Epithalamion – ‘The woods shall to me answer and my Eccho ring’ – suggest, the Irish woods sometimes returned answers of their own and not necessarily of England’s making. The very woods, which so obscured Ireland from English vision, would become the very bulkhead of the English navy that would allow England to be ‘lordes of all the seas and ere long of all the world.’ Through cultivation of Ireland, England would flourish. The intersection of geography and gender in Ireland demonstrates the way in which both land and people who were subjected to colonization had colonial practices inscribed both physically and psychologically on them.
...differences as an ending. Thousands have died regardless of the side they represented. As a reader, this eye witness account in the book brings to life the troubles in Northern Ireland. Walking the streets and living amongst the chaos shows the severity of the situation. This segregation still lives on today in Northern Ireland with no clear end in sight. But one can not expect a four hundred year long feud to end abruptly. Progress has been made in modern time but both sides need full dedication to end the divide. To put aside religion, politics and other blockades in order to truly find what is best for their nation. Just like the old Irish proverb, you've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was. Forget what was in the past and by the elders so one can move on to a new united future whether it be united with Great Britain or Ireland.
The pig-in-the-kitchen image of Ireland was, as far as O'Brien was concerned, the main effect of the nationalistic firing of half-cocked muskets. Rather than subverting the English stage Irishman, Boucicault, Synge and their ilk merely augmented its dubious itinerary (I never said that the pro-subversion argument was a winning one). The crippling stroke O'Brien applies to Synge deals exclusively with language: "[T]he worst was Synge. Here we had a moneyed dilettante coming straight from Paris to study the peasants of Aran not knowing a syllable of their language, then coming back to pour forth a deluge of homemade jargon all over the Abbey stage ..." From such jargon has emerged such wondrous entertainments as Darby O'Gill and the Little People, The Quiet Man, and even the recent offerings Far and Away and Waking Ned (add to this truncated role of dishonour umpteen others, and don't forget that amadan in Braveheart). Although Synge may have had subversive intentions, the legacy such work has given us is not subversive at all. Instead it bedecks the politics of colonialism with praties, shillelaghs, and a bottle of the aul' poitin.
In the play Othello Shakespeare presents Othello and Desdemona who can be admired as long as they are honorable and noble, but when faced with baser human qualities they crumble.
McCann depicted Ireland’s effects of poverty very thoroughly, which took place in the late 1840s. Throughout the second chapter of “Transatlantic”, we are faced with scenes that depict the horrible living conditions Ireland had to deal with due to the lack of food and money. The Irish had suffered from much famine because of this. One scene from the novel that showed light on the problem was when the main character, Frederick Douglass, was getting a tour of the streets of Ireland. The streets started out clean and leisurely but as they traveled further, the potholes deepened and soon the staggering filth had presented itself. There were piles of human waste flushed down the gutters. In one particular moment in the book, Douglas had witnessed a tribe of boys in rags who jumped onto the side of the carriage and specifically one boy had raw welts running along his neck and face. They were begging for money so they could eat something that day. Webb, the man in charge of Douglass, told him to mind his pockets when Douglas gave the kid a penny. The fact that these kids were living in t...