Falsely accused, but some cannot afford to lose face

812 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ireland, The invention of tradition thesis

If anyone ever asked you to describe the relationship between Ireland and England, what would be the first words to come into your mind? Rough? Yes, absolutely. Deaths? Too many! Unforgivable actions? That affected innocent people, yes. The road to Ireland’s independence was long and rough, and many people, both Irish and English, suffered losses that were not replaceable. In the movie In the Name of the Father (1993), directed by Jim Sheridan and produced by the already mentioned as well as Gabriel Byrne, Terry George and Arthur Lappin, we follow Gerry Conlon, an Irishman from Belfast who is sent to London by his father. Gerry happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and is falsely accused of the bombing of two pubs in the Guildford area, spoken about as an act of terrorism. These bombings happened during the height of The Troubles.
Plot summary
The bombing of a pub is what we are first presented to in the beginning of this movie. At the same time, we are introduced to a woman in a car listening to a cassette recording of Gerry Conlon talking about his younger years. At this time, he is a political prisoner. While he is talking we are being taken back to his younger years. Gerry used to steal lead sheets from the rooftop of row houses and sell them. While he is holding a pipe, he is mistaken by British soldiers for holding a rifle. A lot happens and he ends up starting a riot.
Gerry’s father decides to send Gerry to London with the hopes of him getting a job and staying away from the Troubles in Belfast. On the boat to London Gerry meets his friend Paul. When arriving to London, the two boys find the house of their hippie friend Patrick Armstrong. One of the other hippies in the house, Jim, is being hostile towards Ger...

... middle of paper ...

... way he can. After he wins the case, he shows that he will do what it takes to clear his father’s name.
Conclusion
Gerry Conlon is a dynamic character. He goes from being a rude, careless rebel to being one who cares about how others see him, one who cares for others and one who fights for what he believes in and what is right. He goes from being one that people locked down upon to being one that people would follow and listen to. We also see clearly how he learns to show his family that he loves them. Obviously he loved them before as well, but he gets better at showing it.

Works Cited

Myturn21. (2012). In the Name of the Father (film). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Name_of_the_Father_(film)
StudyMode.com. (2011). In the Name of the Father – Gerry Conlon. Retrieved from http://www.studymode.com/essays/In-The-Name-Of-The-Father-820867.html

Show More
Related

  • Angelas Ashes

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    Born in Brooklyn in 1930 to recent Irish immigrants Malachy and Angela McCourt, Frank grew up in Limerick after his parents returned to Ireland because of poor prospects in America. Due to the Great Depression, Malachy could not find work in America. However, things did not get any better back in Ireland for Malachy. A chronically unemployed and nearly unemployable alcoholic, he appears to be the model on which many of our more insulting cliches about drunken Irish manhood are based. Week after week, Angela would be home expecting her husband to come home with money to eat, but Malachy always spent his wages on pints at local pubs. Frank’s father would come home late at night and make his sons get out of bed and sing patriotic songs about Ireland by Roddy McCorley and Kevin Barry, who were hung for their country. Frank loved his father and got an empty feeling in his heart when he knew his father was out of work again. Frank described his father as the Holy Trinity because there is three people in him, “The one in the morning with the paper, the one at night with the stories and prayers, and then the one who does the bad thing and comes home with the smell of whiskey and wants us to die for Ireland” (McCourt 210). Even when there was a war going on and English agents were recruiting Irishmen to work in their munitions factories, Malachy could not keep a job when he traveled to England.

    Read More

  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    have a great chance of wining the case, but he tried to do the best that he could to prove

    Read More

  • Courage In The Crucible by Arthur Miller

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    save his wife and friends, he must convince the court that everything it has done so far is

    Read More

  • On the Sidewalk Bleeding by Evan Hunter, The Hunger Games by Susan Collins

    725 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e has been brought up this way. When Gerry goes away on camp there is some initial conflict. He then begins to change his ways and makes friends with one of his African American teammates, Julies Campbell. Gerry changes his ways and starts to respect people for who they are “when I did know you I was only hating my brother” just like when Andy is bleeding out and he realises that he doesn't want to be in a gang anymore. Both Andy and Gerry’s original ways which were influenced by their surroundings where not right and they both realised this themselves.

    Read More

  • Racism in the Film Remember the Titans

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...n effort to get along. Their friendship was so secure and they were so pleased that they had learnt to overcome the racial issues and spent the time to get to know each other. They both still acted as if they were better than each other and they weren?t going to attempt to change this, even when they were playing football together. If something went wrong they would blame each other, or disagree, and always end up fighting and usually about different things, like who was better and right. By observing the friendship emerging between Gerry and Julius other people began to realize that having friends of a different race was not wrong. This also made Gerry and Julius?s friendship grow even stronger as they made a huge impact on the community. They started to understand each other and created a bond that was so strong that their appearance didn?t seem to matter anymore.

    Read More

  • Last Hurrah

    1146 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is particular consideration given to the political climate in this story. It is incorporated with social and ethnic concerns that are prevalent. The story also addresses prejudice and the theme of ethnic stereotyping through his character development. O'Connor does not present a work that is riddled with Irish slurs or ethnic approximations. Instead, he attempts to provide an account that is both informative and accurate.

    Read More

  • Far and Away

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    The opening credits continue to roll as the camera glides over a lush green, hilly landscape, accented by late afternoon silhouettes of the partial cloud cover, and perhaps best described by Carolyn James in her review as “picturesque in the manner of an Irish Spring soap commercial”. Gradually, what we assume to be a late 19th century Irish village comes into view, characterized by a handful of rudimentary stone buildings, narrow carriage roads, and stone walls. The camera view switches to brief shot of the street level in the village, the music replaced by the bustle of the everyday activities of the townspeople, before taking us into the local pub. It should be noted here that from street level, this village does not much resemble the romantic vision of the same village provided by the aerial shot. Even in such a short shot, the village appears more urban than it probably should, and if not for the natural light, would not differ greatly from the scenes of urban Boston later in the film.

    Read More

  • Protestant Propaganda

    1046 Words  | 3 Pages

    What do you think of when you hear the name Ireland? Ireland is a relatively small island off the coast of Great Britain with a land area of 32,424 square miles (Delaney 2). There are several things that you may associate with this country such as St. Patrick’s Day, shamrocks, beer, and strife. The source of the bitterness behind this conflict began centuries ago, when Britain came over and forced Protestantism on the Irish Catholic inhabitants. For this reason there has always been an animosity between the Protestants and the Irish Catholics. The island is broken up into two distinct regions. The Republic of Ireland consists of twenty-six counties, which make up the southern region. This area is predominantly Roman Catholic. Northern Ireland is made up of the six northern counties, which are under British rule and predominately Protestant. Both sides use propaganda to spread their ideas and gain support. They each have organizations, such as the I.R.A., in the south, and the U.V.F., in the north, which use peaceful methods such as newspapers and murals along with violence to fight for their cause. In Northern Ireland the Protestants used their position in the government to spread anti-Catholic propaganda and persecute the Catholic citizens.

    Read More

  • Article 15 ECHR: Derogation in Case of Emergency, Lawless v Ireland (1961)

    1760 Words  | 4 Pages

    Maguire, John. “Internment, the IRA and the Lawless Case in Ireland: 1957-61.” Journal of the Oxford University History Society, 2004, 1–20.

    Read More

  • Northern Ireland

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Irish and British governments fought for many years over the ownership of Northern Ireland. Britain had main control over Northern Ireland, and Ireland did not think that was fair. Be...

    Read More

  • The Fenian Movement

    1734 Words  | 4 Pages

    " Moral and Physical Force: The Language of Violence in Irish Nationalism." Journal of British Studies 27 (1988): 150- 189. 23 Sept. 2003 <http://www.jstor.org>

    Read More

  • Softball Script Analysis

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the end, he can make a speech about what he did, that it was wrong, but for the right reasons. While there may be consequences for his actions, the audience still roots for

    Read More

  • Neil Jordan's Film, Michael Collins

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    The film begins in Dublin Ireland in the year 1916, the setting was during the Easter uprising which was a rebellion that was started by a group of Irish nationalists against the British Government that was in Ireland. Within the first few minutes of the film, the leaders of the rebellion were taken by British troops and executed by firing squad. Michael Collins at this time was not in a leadership role and therefore was not as much of a threat. He was however imprisoned along with Harry Boland for their role and after a few months, were released in December. Eamon de Valera, who was one of the leaders and played a significant role in the film, was taken to jail and put into a holding cell awaiting his execution and then Michael Collins and Harry Boland, broke him out of jail. Historically, that did not happen. Valera was sent to jail but was not executed because he was born in America and was released approximately one year later...

    Read More

  • Essay On Conflict In Northern Ireland

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most closely watched and widely debated conflict of our time is the one occurring In Northern Ireland. It has been a hot debate for over a century now, yet the root of the conflict is still unclear. There have been many theories over time, yet none have been able to adequately describe what is really happening on the matter. This conflict is divided by many lines; ethnically between the Irish and the British, and religiously by the Catholics and Protestant denominations.

    Read More

  • The Travellers: Ireland’s Ethnic Minority

    2596 Words  | 6 Pages

    McCann et al. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1994, 95-109).

    Read More

More about Falsely accused, but some cannot afford to lose face

Open Document