Passivity over Rebellion
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.
In addition, Martin’s drastic change in character is O’Flaherty’s strategy of revealing a cause and effect situation. For example, in the beginning of the novel, Martin was characterized as a coward for not having the courage to contradict his father’s customs. To being admired by the residents of Black Valley, for his courageous act of defying Chadwick. O’Flaherty portrays Martin as a representative of Irishmen. He portrays Martin as passive but with the potential to rebellious in order to meet justice. Through Martin, O’Flaherty is trying to set across a point: it is never late to fight for ...
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...hough the food was becoming scarce and she had no news about her husband. While the older generation of Killmartins took a pessimists response to the famine, they chose to remain passive and did not have a motivation to strive for survival. Although Mary was slowly being drained by the hunger, she managed to stay positive, waiting for the return of her husband. On the other hand, Martin’s father, Bryan Kilmartin is against the idea of migrating to America and leaving his provenance. Bryan Kilmartin lives through the famine in a sense of denial, believing that the blight will soon go away, he says, “God doesn’t send hunger for long. He sends it to remind us of our sins…” (O’Flaherty 295) Due to his patriotism, Bryan refuses to migrate from his country and strive for survival; he would rather die of starvation than betray his country and leave it during its hardships.
The protagonist, Martin is supportive, old-fashioned, and a hard worker. Firstly, Martin is supportive, “It was hard to believe that your own son was not like you wanted him to be, but Martin thought sadly you couldn’t make him see, if he didn’t feel that way…” (200). Despite his wish for David to grow up and live on a farm, he somewhat accepts David’s wishes with a strong effort and is supportive of David. Secondly, Martin is old-fashioned, “Martin listened with sick wonder to this stranger who had been his son. The city… It’s there the days are the same.” (197). Martin reveals his feelings toward the city and his preference of the farm life rather than the city life. Thirdly, Martin is hard working, “The plowed land was here before us and it will last after us and our hands should be proud to work in it.” (194). Martin works hard like any other farmer, maintaining the farm and livestock everyday despite his old age. Therefore, the protagonist Martin is supportive, old-fashioned, and hard
Frank McCourt’s reputable memoir embodies the great famine occurring in the 1930s of Limerick. During the twentieth century of Ireland, mass starvation, disease and emigration were the causes of numerous deaths. Likewise, food is in high demand in the McCourt family; practically, in every chapter the family is lacking essential meals and nutritious food. However, the McCourt family isn’t th...
middle of paper ... ... n that after nearly seven hundred years of attempted domination, the British oppression of the Irish had deprived them of all but the bare necessities of survival, and caused such destitution that when the potato famine struck, the poor could not avoid the worst privations, given the social and political conditions controlling their lives. The British government’s ineffectual attempts at relieving the situation played a major role in worsening the situation; they allowed prejudice and State and individual self-interest, economic and religious dogma to subjugate even the least consideration for humanity. Ultimately British politicians bear considerable blame because they were not prepared to allocate what was needed to head off mass starvation, and they as the parent government did nothing to protect its subject people.
The analysis of the Irish economic problem, the Great Famine, was a remarkable topic to study by several classical authors such as, Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill, David Ricardo or William Senior. A contextualization skim of the economic characteristics of the country is required in order to know about their main ideas with respect to the topic, taking into account the aspects like the land property, the political power and the relation between Ireland and England.
Jonathan Swift says that the people, politicians, and English are all at fault for the terrible state and poverty of Ireland. Swift states that if a poor infant passes the dangerous years of childhood, they would “leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain” or “they would sell themselves to the Barbados,” as indentured servants.
The youth of the 1950s were built off of their rebellious personalities, their sense of morality, and the metaphorical phrase of being rebirthed. This is best shown in the film Rebel Without a Cause, where teens are seen running away from their parents and getting involved in stuff they shouldn’t be. The reasons why teens were depicted as rebels against conformity was because of how youth culture formed, such as the growth of cars, being involved with love, and forming gangs within their group of friends. When comparing 50s kids to today’s kids, it can be seen that the generation’s culture is drastically different. The biggest goal for parents today are to wipe out the source of rebellious thoughts, and keep strict conformity amongst their family so it would not cause society’s downfall.
Singer, Peter. “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.” Current Issues and Enduring Questions. 8th ed. Eds. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 7-15. Print.
Everybody wants to be accepted, yet society is not so forgiving. It bends you and changes you until you are like everyone else. Society depends on conformity and it forces it upon people. In Emerson's Self Reliance, he says "Society is a joint stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater." People are willing to sacrifice their own hopes and freedoms just to get the bread to survive. Although the society that we are living in is different than the one the Emerson's essay, the idea of fitting in still exists today. Although society and our minds make us think a certain way, we should always trust our better judgment instead of just conforming to society.
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.
During the mid 1840’s, blight in the potato crops in Ireland caused widespread starvation and migration of Irish citizens to the United States. Yet, the massive loss of life and massive exodus could have been avoided if British taxation upon the working class of Ireland was nullified. Though the struggle for liberation was already taking place, the potato famine furthered the cause and helped spread awareness. Furthermore, the potato famine made the average Irish family more reliant upon the government for subsidies and supports to get by.
Restraint and Activism Judicial activism is loosely defined as decisions or judgements handed down by judges that take a broad interpretation of the constitution. It is a decision that is more of a reflection of how the judge thinks the law should be interpreted, rather than how the law has or was intended to be interpreted. There are many examples of judicial activism; examples include the opinions of Sandra Day O'Connor in the Lynch v. Donnelly and the Wallace v. Jaffree trials. Sandra Day argues for the changing of the First Amendment's ban on "establishment" of religion into a ban on "endorsement" of religion. Others include the U.S. v. Kinder, where Congress passed legislation that would require a minimum sentence for persons caught distributing more than 10 grams of cocaine.
During the 18th century Ireland was in a very serious crisis. Jonathan Swift decides to write “A Modest Proposal” as a satirical response to this crisis. In that essay he gives a solution to each of the problems that Ireland was having during that time. The main points that he wanted to discuss were domestic abuse, overpopulation, poverty, theft, and the lack of food. This crisis led the great nation of Ireland into economic struggles.
So much had changed; Martin had lost two of his boys. Burwell informed Martin that he had named his new son after Gabriel. Martin soon departed for his family. His wife was pregnant, so he had to wait at Gullah Village until his eighth child was old enough to travel. He planned to rebuild at Fresh Water Plantation, but worried because he didn’t know how he’d be able to finish in time for the winter.
...entions, using the social context of Ireland in the 1830s and characters that are willing to break social conventions in order to achieve change.
Rebellion is the act of revolting against a person or cause to make change in the world we live in. Society has mixed views on rebellion and the effects of it. The citizens revolt against corrupt governments and governments have to either change their ways or lose their citizens respect. Citizens need to rebel to show their feelings and needs when no one listens. The effects of rebellion are positive by bringing the power to the people, creating change in society, as well as ending corrupt governments.