The Travellers: Ireland’s Ethnic Minority :: Essays Papers

The Travellers: Ireland’s Ethnic Minority Who are the Travellers? The Travellers, a minority community indigenous to Ireland, have existed on the margins of Irish society for centuries. They share common descent, and have distinct cultural practices - early marriage, desire to be mobile, a tradition of self-employment, and so on. They have distinct rituals of death and cleansing, and a language they only speak among their own. Travellers are not overtly conscious of a sense of group history. Concern with ancestry is an obsession of those who value permanence of place. Rather, the individual is defined by his/her place within the relationship network. They live in extended patriarchal families, prefer trailers, tend to nomadism interspersed with occasional house dwelling, and maintain a nomadic mindset even when settled; a house is considered only a stopping place between journeys, whether the stop lasts 20 days or 20 years! There are an estimated 21,000 Travellers currently living in the Republic of Ireland, over half of whom have no access to toil et facilities, electricity, refuse collection or piped water. In the past they invariably travelled, but misguided government policy from the 1960s onward ensured that many were persuaded to settle in houses – a policy that, in undermining traditional values and lifestyle, is increasingly questioned, if not actively altered. Traditionally, they were metal workers, hawkers, traders in horses and used goods of all description, and provided services where and when there were gaps in the market. This resistance to wage labour and alternative cultural definition of work led to charges of idleness by the uncomprehending. The necessity of living on their wits led to a stereotype of Travellers as shrewd, even cunning, dealers. Having been persuaded to settle in houses, and consequently, having lost the mobility necessary to their traditional trades, many Travellers today rely on state welfare assistance. This could be construed as a sinister government plot, but for the fact that government policy on Travellers has never been well planned enough to effect any successful strategy! Ironically, Traveller representative Michael McDonagh believes that â€Å"Travellers that are the most nomadic are also the most economically successful, and also have far less difficulty with their identity than people forced into settlement† (quoted in â€Å"Nomadism in Irish Travellers’ Identity†. From Irish Travellers: Culture and Ethnicity.Eds. McCann et al. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1994, 95-109). Their position is akin to that of the gypsy of Europe in some respects.

Realism: “To Build a Fire” by Jack London

â€Å"To Build a Fire† by Jack London is the tragic tale of a man who becomes a victim of the relentless and unforgiving power of nature. Mirroring life as most people experience it, realistic fiction includes the daily challenges and tribulations of being human. Throughout the story, London creates irony through the main character, which adds to the bleakness that is realism. The main character in this story is a newcomer to the land who is oblivious to nature’s abilities. With little knowledge of what it’s like to be where he is, the man is practically clueless about what he is getting into.His eventual undoing is the result of using the little knowledge he has and overestimating his abilities, causing him to make foolish decisions. For example, an old-timer on Sulfur Creek had once cautioned him about how extremely cold it was; yet the man ignores the warning. Irony comes into play when the man walks along a creek trail, mindful of the dangerous, hidden spring s, and falls through a â€Å"safe† spot in the snow. The man knows to watch for concealed water spots, yet he steps in one unexpectedly, getting wet up to his shins.This incident is the first stumbling block in the road, which adds to the realistic feel of the story. Following the man’s every footstep is his loyal companion, a Husky dog. The dog is depressed by the extreme cold and knows that it is no time for traveling. The dog’s knowledge brings us to another ironic situation. The man carries on his way, disregarding the serious warning signs such as his frozen cheekbones, numbness, and pain. We expect a man to be smarter than a dog, but ironically the dog is the one who understands the severity of the temperature.The dog had learned at an early age that men make fire and seek shelter to survive. The fact that this man doesn’t do so is realistic in that it shows how humans don’t always make the best decisions. Most of the ironic situations in thi s story come from nature. The man gets a dose of the capricious nature of the universe when, after starting a fire, the life-sustaining fire is ironically put out by falling snow. The man starts another fire, but it too gets put out. In a desperate attempt to keep himself warm, he starts to run to heat up his body. However, he has no strength, and soon he stops to sit down.The man has done everything he can to survive, but it is to no avail. Nature takes control, causing him to fall into a deep, relaxing, deadly sleep. Nature contributes to the irony because even with all of the man’s knowledge, he is still helpless to natural forces. By accenting the essential parts of his story with irony, London directs the reader’s attention to the heartless indifference of nature. He illustrates and emphasizes realistic qualities through his clever placement of irony. To the reader, this helps to communicate a straight-forward example of human life as it really is.

Analysis Of The Poem My Last Duchess By Robert Browning

In the Enlightenment period including up until as late as the late 1900s, women had very little importance or even say, in fact none at all, in any matter, whether significant or not. The Enlightenment era followed the time of Renaissance and the creation of the printing press, which made it really easy for any person to share their own philosophies. During this time, a plethora of individuals decided to write about almost anything and everything there was to write about. Whatever came to the minds of these select few went from a thought in their minds to written on paper. With this being said, most chose to write about current things that were happening during their time of existence in the Enlightenment time period. Emily Dickenson; Robert Browning; and Jamaica Kincaid are three of many talented writers who along with all of the things they wrote about were the issues that woman faced throughout time in history. Emily Dickenson wrote the poem 303 which talked about a woman who chos e to empower herself; Robert Browning wrote the poem My Last Duchess about a woman who was ruled over by the same man who killed her; and Jamaica Kincaid wrote the poem Girl which elaborated on the ways a woman should behave and conduct herself accordingly in almost any situation that is heaved in her path. In the poem 303 by Emily Dickinson, the woman being expressed about has to choose the characters that she associates with in her ample nation. She also selects to not let any one, specificallyShow MoreRelatedPorphyrias Lover And My Last Duchess Comparison789 Words   |  4 PagesBrownings Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess (An Analysis of Comparing and Contrasting Brownings poems called Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess) Robert Browning was a Victorian poet. He portrayed an understanding of gender rules in his poems. 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The text, page 629 and 630, tells us that