Irish Historiography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Irish Historiography - Essay Example The Irish Potato Famine and Revolution comprise the twin pillars of the Irish nationalism's post-1923 ideal of the Republic. The two disparate events were celebrated, recalled and made into mythology for very different reasons. The Great Hunger was seen, within nationalist circles, as a largely avoidable food crisis, precipitated and subsequently exacerbated by British ineptitude and an attitude that saw the Irish as expendable quasi-citizens. The Revolution, on the other hand, was portrayed as a glorious event which successfully liberated an oppressed people, while making heroes and martyrs of men such as Michael Collins who, "in a span of six short years brought a country from bondage to a position where she could win her freedom." (Conlon & Barter, 2003, p.20). Both events would likewise serve as the twin axis upon which revisionism was to flourish - the backlash against nationalism both from within and outside of Eire. Fuelled by frustrated patriotism and the deep-rooted influence of the Irish Diaspora in the New World, post-Famine Irish Nationalism espoused an interpretive view of history which conflicted with reality. Furthermore, the practice of history in Ireland has traditionally been merged with oral tales of the past, endowing Irish historiography with a romanticised view of the real life narratives which inspired it. The combination of these two external factors produced a history that was, following the mid-nineteenth century, a potent mix of literature, folklore and propaganda with the result that fact often made way for a more apt form of fiction, unchallenged until the advent of revisionism after 1930. As expressed by R.F. Foster, "rather like generals always fighting the previous battle, cultural revolutionaries rarely get the revolution they expected" (Foster, 2001, p.20). Inspired by romantic writers such as Yeats, turn of the century Irish historians were highly critical of the British Government's sluggish relief tactics in response to the failure of the potato crops in 1845. 'Famine' was renamed 'starvation', with emphasis on the allegedly deliberate nature of the event, and it was taught in republican schools as the only correct version of events. Moreover, nationalist academic research appeared to prove the most damning charge levelled against the British, namely that there was indeed large food stocks available in England and withheld from the starving Irish. The selective use of primary sources determined that revisionist theory, following its emergence in the 1930's, be more concerned with evaluating all of the source material, rather than concentrating only on those facts that underpinned the nationalist republican political ideology. Throughout the dissection of modern Irish history, even after the 1930's, voices that dared to question the v alidity of the term 'starvation' were denounced as traitors or British sympathisers. Indeed, for many years, only those historians who shared the Nationalist viewpoint would receive patronage for their work: this was the historical compromise that mirrored the North/South, Protestant/Catholic divide in Ireland during the twentieth century. Apart from a

William Faulkner "A Rose for Emily" Research Paper

William Faulkner "A Rose for Emily" - Research Paper Example She decided to purchase arsenic poison which she used to kill Homer. It is evident that she wanted to control the life of Homer, the man who attempted to abandon her. Furthermore, in the final section of the story, it is revealed hat Emily is a necrophiliac. In a deeper sense, this further illustrates how Emily wanted to control others. Her attraction to dead bodies simply means that she had the powerful desire to be in total control of others. The secretive side of Emily is also clear. In her analysis of the story, Renne Curry (1994) argues that Emily was unavailable even to the narrator. Curry notes that there was limited knowledge of Emily, and her life remained a mystery. There was an â€Å"extended period of limited knowledge† (Curry, 391). Indeed, in the story, the narrator says that the front door to Emily’s house remained closed for much of her life. In addition, Emily refused to state the reason for buying the arsenic poison, further illustrating her secretive nature. Emily is also a character who lives in denial. She is reluctant to accept the reality. She is some kind of ‘avatar’ because she does not believe in death (Davis, 35). For instance, when her father died, she refused to admit this fact and went ahead and kept his body. In addition, it can be argued that after she killed Homer, she continued to live in denial by keeping Homer’s body. She is portrayed as a woman who not only resists the passage of time but also resists change (Davis, 38). For example, when numbers were being attached to houses, she did not allow the authorities to attach a number to her house. This is an illustration of how she refused to accept change. Curry, Renee R.   â€Å"Gender and authorial limitation in Faulkner’s ‘ A Rose for Emily.’  (Special Issue: William Faulkner)."  The Mississippi Quarterly  47.3 (1994): 391+.  Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. Davis, William V.  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Another Flower for Faulkner’s Bouquet: Theme and Structure in