History, Language and Post-colonial Issues in Brian Friel’s Translations
Owen: Back to first principles. What are we trying to do?
Yolland: Good question.
Owen: We are trying to denominate and at the same time describe . . . ”
Dun na nGall or Donegal? Muineachain or Monaghan? Same place, same difference? As Owen says about his own name:
“Owen - Roland - what the hell. It’s only a name.”
( Translations )
For the student of post-colonial literature, what transpires in Friel’s play as the British army proceed to map this particular corner of the empire is that like language itself, it is not so much the naming and the changing of names but what that signifies and what those names signify in a particular context, coming from a particular mouth.
A simple post-colonial reading could view such events as a violation of geographic space: “Imperialism after all is an act of geographical violence through which virtually every space in the world is explored, charted, and finally brought under control.” (Said, 10), and an appropriation and subversion of identity.
What makes Friel’s play so rich is the way his dialogue plays with the subtle antinomies and nuances of the situation. Can one identify a coherent imperial project, a desire to exterminate subversive Gaelic or is it the inevitable pragmatic impulse of commerce and laissez-faire economics?
The practicalities of day-to-day existence are clear in Maire’s desire to learn English so she can work in America. Owen exemplifies engagement with the colonial centre in contrast to his brother, Manus. However, when the play has taken it’s tragic turn it is Owen who suffers ignominy at the command of Lancey who orders him, “Do your job - translate.” (Act 3)
The translations acquire the bitter taste of complicity, betrayal and shame in Owen’s mouth.
Owen also serves, potentially, as ‘mimic-man’ in his role as servant of the empire - one who, “ . . .simultaneously reinforces colonial authority and disturbs it.”(Sharpe) His final exit, to find Doalty - be it to help him or hinder him - as a Yeatsian ‘man of action’, potentiates this aspect of the theoretical type. His blend of pragmatism and willingness to engage mark him as, in Saidian terms, a potentially liberating force. Manus in this binarism represents Said’s first stage of Nationalism.
Jose Rabasa, in ‘Allegories of Atlas’, discusses the significance of the map in colonial and post-colonial contexts. Functioning as a mirror of the world it offers a conception of ‘a reality’, “ .
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.
After school one day in September she took a bus home from Mexico City to Coyoacin. This is the day that would change her life forever. The bus she was on was hit by a street car and the bus was crushed. One of the arm rails from the bus seat went through Frida’s hip and out her genitals. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance and doctors did not think she would survive. Frida’s spinal column and many other bones were broken and smashed. She was no longer able to go to school to be a doctor since the accident left her as an invalid. She was to stay in the hospital for a month in a full body cast. When Frida finally went home to heal, she was still in the full body cast. Unfortunately, her bones woul...
Historical geographer JB Harley wrote an essay on Map Deconstruction in 1989, in which Harley argues that a map is more than just a geographical representation of an area, his theory is that we need to look at a map not just as a geographical image but in its entire context. Harley points out that by an examination of the social structures that have influenced map making, that we may gain more knowledge about the world. The maps social construction is made from debate about what it should show. Harley broke away from the traditional argument about maps and examined the biases that govern the map and the map makers, by looking at what the maps included or excluded. Harley’s “basic argument within this essay is that we should encourage an epistemological shift in the way we interpret the nature of cartography.” Therefore Harley’s aim within his essay on ‘Deconstructing the Map’ was to break down the assumed ideas of a map being a purely scientific creation.
The accident left Frida in a great deal of pain as she spent three months recovering in a full body cast. The pain was very intense that it often left her restrained to a hospital for months at a time. Although after ...
Moeck, P. G. “Academic Dishonesty: Cheating Among Community College Students.” Community College Journal of Research and Practice 26 (2002). 479-91.
Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907, in Coyocoán, Mexico City. Kahlo was one of the most famous artists in Mexico City. She was viewed by many as an icon of female creativity. Kahlo suffered from polio in 1913, she was only six years old. In 1922, Kahlo was enrolled in a premier school in Mexico. At the age of eighteen she suffered a near fatal bus accident. She suffered many fractures, including her spine, collarbone and ribs, a shattered pelvis, broken foot and dislocated shoulder. The crash left her with a lifetime of pain. After the accident Kahlo decided to leave the study of medicine behind and started to focus on painting. Despite all the pain Kahlo had, she was able to express what she was going through by painting while she recovered in a full body cast. Painting was Frida’s hobby for three months and her self-portraits became a very big part of her life. Kahlo was influenced by indigenous Mexican culture, which explains the symbols and colors in her paintings.
With school budget cuts, and no music instruments, more and more people are beginning to realize the benefits of having music in education. Providing music as part of education helps develop intelligence that leads to greater success in school and in life. Everyone from VH1 Save The Music to The National Association For Music Education agree that, “Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts.” These two companies are doing everything they can to get out the information about music, and the importance of resorting music education as part of the core curriculum.
By providing students with the opportunities to pursue their musical interests, schools are creating environments that foster twenty-first century skills. These skills i...
A school’s curriculum stands by the three “Rs” – reading, writing, and arithmetic – but what about rhythm? Because of budget cuts, many schools throughout the United States have thrown their chorus, orchestra, and band programs into the pile of the “over” and “done with.” In multiple cases, music programs get the boot just because there are no standardized tests for it. Schools like these could not be bringing a greater injustice upon students. Music programs are special in the way that they benefit every aspect of the pupil. It has been proven that music education better shapes the mind, body, and heart of all involved, making music unique and vital to the education system. Music education should be supported by schools because it promotes healthy living, improves brain function, and transforms students into better citizens.
Whitley, B. E. (1998). Factors associated with cheating among college students: A review. Research in Higher Education, 39(3), 235-274.
Music education plays an enormous role in student’s overall well being, outweighing the costs of it. In 1994, Congress passed the Improving America’s Schools Act, concluding that “...the arts are forms of understanding and ways of knowing that are fundamentally important to education” (Ford, AdamMcMahon, Maureen). Congress recognized the importance of music education. Now the effort must be made to make a difference. If people really do want the best for the future, music education is key. Ramon Cortines, former chancellor of the New York City public schools stated, “We engage in the arts, we ought to teach the arts, because this is part of what it means to be human” (“Arts Education”). When people eventually realize this, the benefits will be vast.
The first section is filled with pathos arguments designed to make the reader believe that the majority of college students are cheaters. Multiple sources are brought in to prove this, each with their own ethos and pathos.
Frida received an employment from the Mexican government to paint five portraits of important Mexican women in 1941. Sadly she could not finish her job because her father had recently passed away and she was having a hard time dealing with her chronic health problems. Despite her losses her popularity continued to grow and was widely shown to numerous groups in this
Academic dishonesty has become a massive phenomenon. It occurs in the majority of higher education institutes. Researches demonstrate that academic dishonesty is widespread and on the rise. For instance, Bill Bowers in 1964 made the most important study of academic dishonesty in higher educations. He analyzed a number of 5.000 students in various samples of 99 schools and universities and concluded that three fourths of the respondents of this study admitted to have done some academic dishonesty (Butterfield, McCabe & Trevino, 2001, p.220). Cauffman, Feldman & Jensen (2001) define academic dishonesty as an attempt of students to present the work of other people as their own work. (2001). Academic dishonesty includes behaviors such as cheating on exams, copying other students’ work, plagiarism, sabotage.
When music education comes to one’s mind, one may think that it only applies when it comes to listening to diverse songs and beating two drum sticks together to the beat of songs. However, there is much more of a deeper meaning to it than that. According to the acclaimed author, J. Yudkin, “Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain (the development of skills), the cognitive domain (the acquisition of knowledge), and, in particular and significant ways, the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity. The incorporation of music training from preschool to postsecondary education is common in most nations because involvement in music is considered a fundamental component of human culture and behavior. Music, like language, is an accomplishment that distinguishes us as humans” (Yudkin 4). The subject of expurgating music education has been discussed for numerous decades. However, those discussing this fail to realize that music education not only has an imperative part in the students’ grades improving but also betters their behavior. Music education should remain in the curriculums of today’s students because it has a positive effect on their upbringing, in turn leading them to better, more fruitfulfutures.