Irish Violence and the Troubles Essay Example for Free

Irish Violence and the Troubles Essay In this essay I will examine the effect of silence during the ‘troubles’ on individual and national identities; with particular interest to Seamus Deane’s Reading in the Dark, Tim Pat Coogan states that the term Irish Troubles refers to a whole history of violence and colonialism that Ireland has endured, over the last thousand years. ‘To the physical force school of Irish nationalism the Norman coming is generally regarded as the starting point for ‘eight hundred years of British oppression’’ (Coogan, 1996, p. 43). In addition to this, he explains that the term ‘troubles’, is now directed to the modern, twentieth century troubles. They mainly occurred during 1960 to 1998. The reason for the violence and resentment in Northern Ireland is due to the divisions between the nationalists (Roman Catholics) and the unionists (Protestants). The nationalists identify Northern Ireland as part of Ireland, not a separate country, and not another colony of the United Kingdom; whereas the unionists have great allegiance to Britain and regard their position as part of the UK with pride (Coogan, 1996, p. 1). But the Irish agony had been building up slowly also, rooted in complex factors, one of which geography, pre-dates the dawn of history: others involve the outworkings of two forms of colonialism, those of Mother Church and Mother England (Coogan, 1996, p. 1). Discrimination also factored into the tension between the two groups. The unionists rule over Northern Ireland affected most Catholic lives negatively, as they were a minority; they were discriminated in areas of employment, housing and education. Internment or also known as Operation Demetrius is one key issue that contributed to the beginning of the ‘troubles’ (Coogan, 1996. 30). This was introduced by the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary; it involved arresting anyone who was accused of being against the professional military force immediately, without trial. These aspects stirred resentment from the nationalists and inconsequence caused violent rebellion (Coogan, 1996, p. 145). Thus, the violence that was carried out during the ‘troubles’, was chiefly by the IRA (Irish Republic Army), the Ulster Volunteer Force, the British Army and The Royal Ulster Constabulary (Coogan, 1996, p. 18). The aggression of the ‘troubles’ constructed Northern Ireland to be a place of great instability and tension. In his book The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon comments on the state of the colonised mind. Fanon was a psychiatrist and a theorist of post-colonialism. His work essentially centred on the developing countries, particularly Algeria. In order to break away from colonisation, Fanon advocates violence to the colonised and he is renowned for this factor (Fanon, 1967, pp. 10-11). His main concern is his patients, who are mentally ill. In his final chapter â€Å"Colonial War and Mental Disorders†, he explains that his patients suffer not merely by war but also from a colonial circumstance (Fanon, 1967, p. 235). But the doctors described it by portraying as a congenital stigma of the native, an ‘original’ part of his nervous system where, it was stated, it was possible to find the proof of a predominance of the extra-pyramidal system in the native. This contracture is in fact simply the postural accompaniment to the native’s reticence, the expression in muscular form of his rigidity and his refusal with regard to colonial authority (Fanon, 1967, p. 35). It is this colonial circumstance that inevitably yields the ‘native’ into a nervous, mental state. Fanon pays close attention to language and asserts that language is taken away from the colonised subject (Fanon, 1967, p. 194). The language of colonising involves removing the ‘native’s’ language and speech. Consequently, the colonised is silenced, and this is an oppressive act. ‘Silence’ is defined in The Oxford English Dictionary as an ‘absence of sound’ and ‘speech’; it can be an evasion of discussing something in particular, or it can be something that is forced upon (Soanes and Stevenson, 2008, p. 1342). Sara Maitland, author of A Book of Silence, attempts to understand silence and claims that the OED’s definition is far too indistinct (Maitland, 2008, p. 25). She explores the essence of it in several ways; her own life, history, religion, literature and travel. It is apparent from this book that ‘silence’ is an ambiguous phenomenon that consists of both positive and negative dimensions. Silence is abstract and transforms itself; it can be relative or a complete absence. Maitland observes that it is generally recognised negatively, her friend writes in a letter that, ‘silence is the place of death, of nothingness’ (Maitland, 2008, p. 8). She justifies that silence is only negative when it obstructs. Maitland describes the three forms of ‘interferences’; a subject’s tongue is cut out then they are silenced; if someone is imprisoned, they are silenced, since any noise they make will not be heard; if speech is construed as ‘worthless’ and ‘meaningless’, then it is silenced (Maitland, 2008, p. 29). This is very effective and useful for your average oppressor: calling someone ‘mad’, for example, means they can say what they like but no one will hear – this was the sort of silencing the Soviet Union went in for (Maitland, 2008, p. 9). This form of silence interrupts speech and creates a barrier that subjugates the potential speaker. It is oppressive and in effect it becomes a metaphorical prison. Seamus Deane’s novel Reading in the Dark was published in1996, two years before the end of the ‘troubles’. The novel is a bildungsroman, as it reports the protagonists’ growth from child to an adult, so the reader witnesses the protagonist’s youthful innocence transform with experience, as he comes of age. The narrator is an Irish Catholic boy who is growing up in Northern Ireland, Derry. It is constructed of smaller stories that are dated from 1945 up to 1971, where the protagonist matures into an adult. These stories are fragments of memories, conversations, myths and events that happened in the area. They contribute in narrating the protagonist’s growth from a young child to an adult. Thus with backdrop of the violent ‘troubles’, the narrator develops his understanding of who he is, by unearthing a profound family secret (Deane, 1996). Deane complicates the whole novel by playing with ‘silence’. The style of narration is one of the key methods that he employs to do this. Before the narration begins, the title ‘Reading in the Dark’ indicates towards a narrative of silence and so to a narrative that will be indecipherable. As mentioned before, this novel is a bildungsroman, a story of self-discovery and identity. Ensuing this, to read is to understand, and so the protagonist will understand and discover himself by ‘reading’. However, ‘reading in the dark’ is a paradox, as it is impossible and in result self-discovery is silenced. The opposite of dark is light, and light is generally associated with illumination and knowledge (Farquharson, 1999, p. 101). Whereas, darkness contains an absence, so it becomes the visual equivalent to silence. Deane implies through this understanding of the title that the unfolding of the narrative will be an intricate and complicated process. This displays that the colonial landscape of Northern Ireland and the ‘troubles’ create identity as problematic. Pre-eminent among them are the disfiguring effects of both colonialism and postcolonial nationalism alluded to above, the crisis of self-representation produced by colonialist discourse, and the dynamics of power and resistance, history and memory, language and identity within colonial relations. Read from postcolonial perspective, the novel could be described as an exploration of the problematic process of identity formation in a colonialist context (Harte, 2000, p. 152). As a result, Deane deliberately confirms through his title that self-discovery and understanding of identity is furthermore complex in a colonised state (Fanon, 1967, p. 182). In consequence, darkness obstructs light and silence obstructs articulation. Therefore, silence hinders the narration.

Integration and Animal Farm by Orwell :: Free Essay Writer

Integration and Animal Farm by Orwell Integration of Education in the United States Throughout history, education is recognized as one of the key components of any civilized society. It is a natural instinct for man to learn, and feel the need to pass on that knowledge to their young and to all those who come behind them. People have a passion for education, and will fight for the opportunity to gain the valuable knowledge that education provides. The importance of education in a society is illustrated in two aspects. The first being the actual events in American history regarding the desegregation of schools, and the second being the action of the animals in George Orwell's Animal Farm upon receiving their liberation on Manor Farm. In recent times we have witnessed a struggle in American society for the opportunity of minorities to realize the education that their white counterparts received. It began with slavery, when blacks were prohibited from obtaining even the basic skills to read and write. When blacks were finally allowed this liberty, we began our own makeshift schools, and were content with this opportunity. As time progressed, and more formal schools were established, minorities realized that they were not receiving the same quality education as those of the majority. This sparked a legal battle that lasted over fifty years. The first landmark was the case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. It established the doctrine of "separate but equal." This concept stated that separate public facilities of equal quality do not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. This amendment says that no state may "abridge" the privileges of any citizen, nor may any stat e deprive any citizen of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law. In 1954, fifty-eight years later, the Case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka finally settled the debate of whether or not blacks and whites can receive an education integrated with or separate from each other. This time the Supreme Court unanimously ruled to overturn the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. In his opinion, the Chief Justice wrote, "We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." The Brown case signaled the end of segregation of public places mandated by law.

Marijuana Paper

Legalization of Marijuana Some people say that marijuana is a helpful medicine in many ways. They say it will relax you, calm you down, and make one feel very good. It is also said that it is not as harmful or dangerous as alcohol and other gateway drugs, and that is some of the reasons why many people want to legalize marijuana. Marijuana should stay illegal in the United States because if it is made legal, more and more people will smoke it, which will cause negative effects on health and families.If marijuana is made legal, people will think smoking marijuana is something that they can do every single day at any given time, which will increase drug use. People will smoke marijuana without getting in trouble or getting arrested. With it being legal, there will also be a lot easier way to buy it, and it will also be a lot cheaper to buy. These same things took place when alcohol was made legal. Drug dealers will be able to grow marijuana without getting in any kind of trouble, and i n return, will be able to make a large profit off of it.It is said in Legalizing Marijuana, â€Å"Van Deventer, a news reporter, described how he and his friends used drugs casually for a while. He felt like he was growing closer to addiction. But buying illegal drugs was not easy. Van Deventer and his friends feared being arrested. They worried about undercover cops posing as drugs dealers, who often sold them fake drugs. † (Legalizing Drugs 67) It is also said in this book that Van Deventer and his friends stopped using drugs when it was illegal, because they did not want to get arrested.If drugs were legal at this time, Van Deventer and his buddies would use drugs casually once again. The increasing drug use will eventually lead to many health effects in the drug users. People who are depressed use marijuana because they think that if they use it, it will calm them down, and in return get them out of the depressed mood they were in. Studies show that this is not true, beca use marijuana is shown to worsen a person’s depression problem. There are also many other negative health effects to marijuana users including: respiratory illness, lung infections, and cancer of the lungs, mouth, throat, and esophagus.It is shown that frequent marijuana users have a higher risk of getting these different types of cancer than smokers are. It is said that after just a minute or two of smoking marijuana, the marijuana user’s heart rate increases and their blood pressure decreases as well. When your blood pressure drops and your heart rate increases, researchers found that the user has a four time higher chance of having a heart attack within the first hour of using marijuana.Smoking marijuana can also, in some cases, make a frequent user of marijuana gain a major amount of weight. Marijuana users have said that they get the â€Å"munchies† while high which makes them want to eat large amounts of food which, in return can make them gain weight. If marijuana is made legal, it would also make a negative effect on the user’s family and home life. If a parent of a young teen uses this marijuana in front of their child, it will make the child want to do the same thing as their parent or parents.Parents around the world are role models to their kids and the kids want to do what their parents do in many ways. If a child sees his or her parent getting high, it will make the child want to do the same thing. Marijuana affects teens and their ability to learn and concentrate in school. It will cause them to make bad choices like skipping school to go out and smoke with all of their buddies. When parents use this drug, it will possibly cause them to neglect or abuse their children. If marijuana stays illegal, these negative effects will lessen.Van Deventer says in Legalizing Drugs, â€Å"The more barriers there are (cops or the hassle or the fear of dying from an overdose) the less likely you are to get addicted. † (Legaliz ing Drugs 68) He is trying to state that if marijuana stays illegal, there will be many more consequences if one smokes or gets caught smoking. If it was legal, than the fear of addiction and getting hassled by the cops for it would not be there. So why would this country want to take a risk of legalizing this drug? It will only give teens and parents bad ideas to teens, parents, and families.Increased drug use, negative health effects, and negative effects on families are all the negative outcomes of legalizing marijuana. So legalizing marijuana will put negative effects on families and it will make many people make man bad choices. Works Cited Goldstein, J Margaret. Legalizing Drugs: Crime Stopper or Social Risk. Twenty First Century Books. Colorado. Outline I. Introduction: Negative effects on family, health, and major increase in drug use II. Increased use in marijuana use III. Negative effects on health related issues IV. Negative effects on family and home life

Robert Frost Man and Nature - 773 Words

Poetry during the twentieth century was a versatile subject that could be written and interpreted in many ways. The Romantics were the basis to many authors techniques and ideas of Poetry. Robert Frost was one such example, that used Romanticism in his poetry writings. Robert Frost uses his poetry to establish a relationship between man and nature, by showing how nature can console, teach and impact choices made by mankind. In Birches the connection between man and nature is the recollection of childhood memories that comforts and consoles man. For example, when the narrator observes nature he states When I see birches bend to left and rightÂ…I like to think some boys been swinging them(ll.13). The youth of the day seem to have†¦show more content†¦Nature implies decisions and the two roads in the woods symbolize paths in life and choices that people make in the journey of life itself. Robert Frost will always be remembered as the poster child for Romantic poetry in the twentieth century. He was able to understand the complicated emotions that people went through in their daily lives. Frost was able to connect those complicated emotions with something as simple as nature. With his ability to portray an intertwined relationship between man and nature he let his readers connect it to their own personal and internal conflicts of their dailyShow MoreRelatedNature Of A Man By Robert Frost1279 Words   |  6 PagesNature of a man Throughout history, literature has been studied, perfected, and created. There are multiple different dialects, forms, and grammar. In poetry, the way an artist writes their poetry shows how they wanted their work to be perceived. Robert Frost wrote his work in common folk dialect, unlike many writers of his time. 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However, RobertRead MoreEssay on The Intricate Meanings of Robert Frost s Poetry784 Words   |  4 PagesRobert Frost is considered by many to be one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Frost’s work has been regarded by many as unique. Frost’s poems mainly take place in nature, and it is through nature that he uses sense appealing-vocabulary to immerse the reader into the poem. In the poem, â€Å"Hardwood Groves†, Frost uses a Hardwood Tree that is losing its leaves as a symbol of life’s vicis situdes. â€Å"Frost recognizes that before things in life are raised up, they must fall down† (Bloom