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. Friel examines this issue by describing the
effects that certain changes have on individual characters; Irish and
English. One may think a play with this issue could not help being
biased towards the Irish. However, Friel ‘did not wish to write a
play about Irish peasants being suppressed by English sappers.’ In
order to ascertain whether he achieves this, we should look to his
often complex characters and how they develop throughout the play.
and so we must look at individual characters, as Friel does, to see
whether this play is pro-Irish or not.
Let us take Hugh O’Donnell as the first example. Hugh is portrayed as
an intellectual character. He has a wide knowledge of languages and
uses a sophisticated choice of words. For instance, when he
describes the Irish language he explains that certain other cultures
‘expend on their vocabularies and syntax acquisitive energies and
ostentations.’ This is definitely a positive characteristic and can be
contrasted to Lancey and Yolland’s ignorance. This can be seen when
Lancey misunderstands the Latin statement ‘nonne Latine loquitur’ and
tells Jimmy ‘I do not speak Gaelic sir’, making it obvious that he
does not speak Latin either. However, when Hugh ‘pours himself another
drink’ and his alcohol addiction is apparent the stereotyp...
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...land, once again, to represent the attempt of joining
two cultures together by his relationship with Maire. However, this
joining is doomed to fail just like the couple’s relationship is as,
even though Maire and Yolland celebrate what they love about each
other’s cultures, thus ignoring their differences, there is still a
failure to communicate. This can be seen when Yolland and Maire are
having a ‘conversation’ with each other, even though neither speaks
the others language, and Yolland explains ‘I’m not going to leave
here’, while Maire pleads ‘Take me away with you George’. This
represents the inability for all the characters to communicate which
results in the supposed death of Yolland. This English soldier is
therefore seen as a victim and his questionable murderer appears to be
the Irish Manus; although Friel leaves us to decide this for
ourselves.
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.
As a colonial subject of England on the island of Jamaica, Hortense has high expectations when she reaches England, along with 490 other passengers, on the Windrush of 1948. She is expecting high standards of education, language, lifestyle, an abundance of job opportunities, and a family. However, she is heavily disappointed as she realizes the reality of England does not compare to her expectations. Gilbert, one of the first Jamaicans to arrive to serve the Mother Country, is also discontented with his experiences in England. In Small Island, Andrea Levy (whose parents travelled to England on the Windrush), explores and compares the expectations versus the reality of migrating to England.
The following is a list of explications pointing towards British and Celtic myths and figures. While pursuing the Celtic influences of Middleton's novel, I found myself searching for the meaning of other present mysteries. This author's twist of two cultures creates a spectrum for possible explication. It seems that the Celtic material melds into British society throughout this novel. In search of specific markers I found myself concentrating mostly on Haydn Middleton's use of names.
Gerald of Wales’ was most likely never in Ireland, and his writing is not an accurate portrayal of the Irish, but a chance to discuss hybridity and turn his readers against it while also the Irish.
The Success of the British Government in Trying to Deal with the Irish Troubles in the Years Since 1972
In order to legitimise a regime or cause, traditions may be constructed around historical or mythological events, people or symbols that reinforce the image required to focus people’s conception of the past. People can be encouraged to invent a cohesive view of their shared ‘traditions’ by what could be called cherry picking bits of history.
The rise of Great Britain began in the early 16th century and lasted until the mid-19th
Did you know what 13 percentages of the immigrants live in the United States? It is approximately 41.3 million immigrants over the total population of 316.1 million, which is a lot (migration policy). These are the people who move from different-different countries for their better life. On the other hand, these are the people struggled most because they were treated as an outsider. So for this reason Beau Sia complained in the poem, “Conquered, Colonized, Colonialized” “Too late to run now! You gave us visas to do what you thought was beneath you.” By this quote author want to tell us that the only reason we got visas in this country because they want to make us their slaves and over rule us. So throughout the poem “Conquered, Colonized, Colonialized”
Answer: A. Hakluyt brought up several ways England would gain by colonization (consider points 3 and 13.) Defining the term “exploit” by the ways England would gain from the expenditure, answer A is the paramount and easiest answer. Concerning answer B, Hakluyt did favor mercantilism, but with the cost it would take to start colonizing, I have a hard time believing this was his primary reason, in case it would come back to bite him. While I’m sure economic efficiency (answer C) would be important to Hakluyt and to the queen, it is not referenced as clearly as a few of the other reasons, which leads me to believe it was not the primary reason. I had to consider answer E, as he does state, “That this action will be greately for the increase,
113 Macbeth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1990. The. Coursen, H. R. Macbeth: A Guide to the Play. London: Greenwood Press, 1997.
Cultural appropriation involves the adoption of another culture’s practices in a manner that undermines the practices’ significance and reduces it to something that would be prevalent throughout history. The problem lies not in borrowing aspects of a culture; it lies in the fact that most people who borrow aspects of a culture skew the original version. John Henry's ballads have been transformed, transcribed and flipped around for generations. Most of these ballads have been seen as cultural appropriation and have changed the legacy behind his story. The John Henry story has changed to fit different cultural backgrounds and different situations. White Southern millworkers, listening to country recordings of the ballads that never mentioned
While Britain had positive GDP growth during the Golden Age, it didn’t achieve quite the same impressive growth rates that its neighbours in Europe did, due to investment growing faster that productivity, which was partially caused by having lower social investment levels, and there being less opportunity for catch-up growth in Britain.
Rudyard Kipling grew up in a very unstable home and environment in India, Bombay. He was bullied as a kid and had a bad family life. He turned to writing and reading as a way to cope with his abusive childhood and published his first book in 1902 (Stewart, britannica). His books display a variety of imperialist thoughts that revolve around racist intentions as well. Although Kipling can be read as a well-intentioned imperialist, his stories demonstrate that he is also a racist because he portrays the natives as savages, unclean and an inferior race and believes the help can help the “inferior races” civilize.
There are many intertexual references throughout the novel, all of which serve to create and reinforce meaning. The Histories by Herodotus is constantly referred to and is carried everywhere by the English Patient. It speaks of the enmity of East and West and their irreconcilable differences. “…wonderful deeds manifested by both Greeks and barbarians…together with reason why they fought one another.” This exert from The Histories shows that while both East and West can achieve great feats they can never achieve the greatest feat of all, overcoming their differences. This foreshadows the apocalyptic dropping of the A-bomb on Japan and Kips subsequent realisation of this enmity. This is a key notion in the novel and the continual references help to foreground these differences, particularly highlighting the treatment of Asian nations at the hands of the English, or Western nations. This harsh conduct on the behalf of the English is emphasized by the English Patients use of cigarette papers, covering the text, much the same way as the dominating English cover the culture of the Indians. The English Patient represents everything that is English; he is knowledgeable and “cultured”, able to speak on many “refined” topics. This trope of covering is symbolic of the dispossession of their language, and government, indeed the very burial of their culture, suffered by the Indians at the hands of the English. Herodotus’s Histories also draw parallels between the Katherine/English Patient love affair and that of Gyges and the Queen, as well as revealing the power of words. During Katharine’s telling of the story, the English Patient falls in love with her, the story can be seen as the mechanism for their love affair. It becomes clear that Katharine is the Queen, Clifton is Candules, while the English Patient is forced into the role of Gyges.
No other colonial master had a more extensive empire than Britain. The country put a