How Does Brian Friel convey a sense of cultural identity through the way his characters speak?

Task: How Does Brian Friel convey a sense of cultural identity through the way his characters speak? In the Play 'Translations' the characters are separated into the two groups the English colonists, Captain Lancey and Lieutenant Yolland, and the Gaelic speaking Irish population, Manus, Sarah, Jimmy Jack, Maire, Doalty, Bridget, Hugh and Owen. Coming from different backgrounds mean the two groups the characters speech has been carefully written by Friel to display different cultural identity within their speech, such as different syntax, dialectical lexis and colloquial language. The two English sappers, Lancey and Yolland, speak in standard English both being formal and correct although Yolland also includes politeness, he apprises negative face needs Lancey dose not although the translation by Owen is changed to do so, in his idiolect where as Lancey seems not to do so, for instance when the two are Hugh by his son Owen, Lancey says, "Good Evening", and then continues to use Minimal responses to address the questions posed to him where as Lancey greets Hugh by saying, "How do you do." which carries more polite connotations with it, although his responses are short to the questions he is asked are short they are not minimal responses, like Lanceys, and show he is more willing to engage in phatic communication. Lancey also conveys an authoritive attitude lacking

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  • Subject: English
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Consider the themes of language and naming in Act 1, and explore their relationship to culture and identity.

Consider the themes of language and naming in Act 1, and explore their relationship to culture and identity. 'Translations' is a play by Brian Friel, which is set in a town named Baile Beag, an Irish speaking community. Therefore it is not surprising that when British troops take over Ireland, there is great hostility amongst the Irish people, and this is reflected in the play, as all Irish place names must be changed to British sounding place names. Brian Friel has used this time in history to convey this hostility that the Irish people felt, and through his characters actions and emotions, we see the love hate relationship that the Irish and British felt for one another. He has done so by the use of language and naming in Act 1. Friels use of language and phrases in the play take a key role in the ability to transfer the thoughts of the Irish community, and the reflection that British troops taking over Ireland has had on their sense of belonging, and their identity and culture. The plays name is 'Translations', a word to which we tend to associate a foreign language with. The whole play in itself is a translation from Gaelic to English, so in this way is ironic as the situation that Brian Friel is dealing with in his play is that British troops, apparently unwelcome by most of Ireland, are translating Irish place names into English place names. Therefore, immediately at

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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By close examination of Act 1, discuss the ways in which Friel explores the importance of the link between language and identity.

By close examination of Act 1, discuss the ways in which Friel explores the importance of the link between language and identity. Friel explores the importance of the link between language and identity very deeply, through the dialogue and stage directions, he reveals and undercurrent of the importance of language and identity. The play opens with a scene between Manus and Sarah who all her life "has been considered locally to be dumb". The simple fact that he has included a character within the play who has a speech defect, clearly reflects Friel's strong beliefs about communication and language and their significance. Throughout act one the audience witnesses Sarah's own language and methods of communication, for example when "Sarah presents the flowers to Manus". She constantly portrays vivid actions for instance miming "Rocking a baby", and Friel shows that this individual language that Sarah uses is very much important to her character and identity, when she offers the flowers to Manus, the audience immediately understands that she is a loving kind, and grateful person. Her actions, and therefore her language instantly portray her to the audience as a seemingly loving and generous person, therefore linking these strong character traits together with great importance. Furthermore, the important link between language and identity that Friel accentuates in Translations

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What Issues Of Communication Are Raised In The Play 'Translations'?

What Issues Of Communication Are Raised In The Play 'Translations'? The play 'Translations' by Brian Friel is in many respects an intelligent and enlightening metaphor for the situation in Northern Ireland. Throughout the play Friel uses his satirical twists and mixes of tragedy with comedy to express the vulgarity and hypocrisy in Ireland. Friel introduces a variety of extremely heavy topics dealing with societal problems such as generation gaps, communication and cultural difference. The play centres mostly on the tragedy of English imperialism as well as Irish nationalism. The themes that run through Translations are only an indication of the subject matter Friel begins to base his writings on. Translations may be located both temporally and spatially to a fixed point in Irish history. The characters hail from Baile Beag, renamed with the anglicised title of Ballybeg. The action of the play occurs over a number of days towards the end of August 1833. Before delving into the play it is clear, from these most general of points, that the main plot of Translations is a period of great significance in the colonial relationship between Ireland and England. The issue of communication in particular takes a significant central point in the play 'Translations'. The problems of translations between the languages are a metaphor for the problems of communication between England and

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What do you think is the significance of these three 'minor' characters in the play: Sarah, Jimmy and Doalty?

Translations What do you think is the significance of these three 'minor' characters in the play: Sarah, Jimmy and Doalty? Doalty, Sarah and Jimmy Jack Cassie have three main roles in Translations. Firstly, they represent those Irish people who will be left behind during the development of the country by the English. Secondly, they all contribute to the concluding scene and its outcome. And thirdly, they all in some way represent Ireland as a whole. Unlike Maire and Owen, none of these three characters has any desire to leave Baile Beag. When Jimmy Jack sets out on a spring morning in 1798 with Hugh to join the rebellion he, like Hugh, soon feels homesick and returns eagerly to where he feels he belongs "And it was there in Phelan's pub" reminisces Hugh "that we got homesick for Athens, just like Ulysses. "The desiderium nostrorum - the need for our own". Jimmy Jack, the peasant scholar, is a personification of a past, idealised Ireland - when Ireland kept alive the light of learning during Europe's Dark Ages. His "filthy" clothes, and shabby exterior are compensated for by the inner richness of his cultivated mind. Again he is like Ireland, materially poor but possessed of cultural wealth. Yolland appreciates both Jimmy Jack's knowledge and the "different order" of experience presented by Irish culture. For Jimmy Jack, the classics and everyday life are interwoven. For

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Explore the range of linguistic and stylistic effects used to bring out the central themes and issues of Brian Friel's play "Translations"

Remind yourself of Act II Scene I beginning with the first speech by Owen, "Now where have we got to?" to the end of Hugh's speech, "Gentlemen." [he leaves]. Explore the range of linguistic and stylistic effects used here by Friel to bring out the central themes and issues of the play. In the play 'Translations Brian Friel explores many issues, one of which is the process of naming. The play is based on the introduction of the first Ordnance Survey, bringing with it the inevitability of anglicizing place names. In the extract naming is emphasised by constant references to various places in Ireland, and their English equivalents; for example "Bun na hAbhann...Burnfoot!". The link between a place and historical events is also emphasised; "And you place names-what was the one we came across this morning?-Termon, from Terminus, the god of boundaries." The theme of naming is very closely linked to the loss which occurs as a result. As place names are anglicized, something is lost. Communities such as Baile Beag lose their cultural and political identities, and the original meaning is distorted. Friel used the theme of naming to highlight this loss of identity within the Irish community. The importance of names is also stressed in the repetition of place names: "Owen: Bun na hAbhann Yolland: Again Owen: Bun na hAbhann Yolland: Bun na hAbhann" Friel uses mapping, both

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Classics in Friel's Translations

Discuss the importance of the classical content in 'Translations'. How do they contribute to the exploration of colonialism in the play? 'It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation. 1' Translations is a play in which many doors are opened through mythological and classical content. Looking at this content in closer detail allows us to see the play from a different angle, and gives new meanings to many of the themes and ideas presented. Most notably to the theme of colonialism which is at the forefront throughout the play. Jimmy Jack Cassie, for whom the 'world of ancient myths is as real and as immediate as everyday life', provides us with our first examples of the classical content in Translations. He acts as a human 'bridge' between the present worlds of Baile Beag and those of Ancient Greece and Rome, and links many of the themes and events with classical history and mythology. One of the most important thematic links is the development of Jimmy Jack's 'relationship' with the Goddess Athene. Jimmy fails to treat her like a fictional character, even comparing her to women from his village 'no harm to our own Grania... But I would go bull straight for Athene'. His relationship with the mythological character is real to him, and thus the problems he faces

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Naming and Power in Friel's Translations

Write a critical appreciation of this passage, focus on Friel's exploration of the relationship between naming and power This passage, near the start of Act Two in Translations shows Owen and Yolland in the process of naming the places they come across on their map of Ireland. The characters and the text itself both deal with the issues surrounding these names and the powers names have over both people and places. The powers of destruction and creation are shown to be one of the effects of the process of naming. The beginning of the passage touches on the destructive side of naming by using the prefix 'de' ('describe' and 'denominate') twice in the words Owen uses to explain what they are trying to do by changing Irish place names; 'we are trying to denominate and at the same time describe that tiny area of soggy, rocky, sandy ground...' . The prefix 'de' usually expresses a reversal or negation which in this case would mean they are 'de - scribing' i.e. 'unwriting' and 'de- nominating' which phonologically sounds as if they are taking away the names of the places, although if one looks at the semantics of the words they mean completely different things. Use of the prefix 'de' also gives Owens remark a more negative feel, making the reader wonder if what they are doing is perhaps a bad, destructive thing rather than the constructive process it was intended to be; a theme

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  • Subject: English
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