National Family Allegory: Irish Men and Post
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NATIONAL FAMILY ALLEGORY: IRISH MEN AND POST-INDEPENDENCE NOVELS AND FILM A Dissertation by SHANE NICOLE TRAYERS Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2006 Major Subject: English NATIONAL FAMILY ALLEGORY: IRISH MEN AND POST-INDEPENDENCE NOVELS AND FILM A Dissertation by SHANE NICOLE TRAYERS Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Marian Eide Committee Members, Cynthia Bouton Katherine E. Kelly Sally Robinson Head of Department, Paul A. Parrish December 2006 Major Subject: English iii ABSTRACT National Family Allegory: Irish Men and Post-Independence Novels and Film. (December 2006) Shane Nicole Trayers, B.A., Muhlenberg College; M.A., American University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Marian Eide This dissertation explores the ideological functions of the National Family Allegory in post-Independence novels and film created by male authors and film directors. Ideology functions as a lingering force in service of the status quo, the current power structure, and these works recreate the same family structures as those established during colonization and through national myth. The roles of Mother Ireland, savior sons, and failing fathers repeat, sometimes through creative means. Although the texts attempt to subvert the allegory, many post-Independence works eventually show the traditional and conservative family structure of the National Family Allegory. The first chapter, “Importantly Motherless: Spontaneous Child Creation and Male Maternity,” analyzes the connection between the missing Mother figure and male fantasies of pregnancy and child creation. Because of the lack of stable family structure, usually connected to early childhood abandonment or mistreatment, the novels discussed in this chapter show the absolute necessity of family in creating a personal and national identity. In the second chapter, “’You Can’t Protect Your Women’”: Male Irish Terrorists as Protector in Popular American and Irish Films, 1984-1998,” the young man/son iv protagonist in his role as protector of the woman/Mother figure is analyzed in six different films. In the third chapter, “Articulation and Stasis: The Son as Haunted Echo of the Father in McCann’s Songdogs ,” discusses the father and son dynamic in relation to the missing mother in this diasporic novel to indicate that the Irish National Family Allegory holds true even during the dispersion of post-Famine Irish identity. The last chapter, “Failing Fathers,” examines the father figure in Roddy Doyle’s A Star Called Henry , Patrick McCabe’s The Butcher Boy , and John McGahern’s Amongst Women . A father’s traditional role is to function in the public sphere and also to control the family, yet each of these father’s fail in their roles, which is typical of the National Family Allegory role established within the literature. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Marian Eide, and my committee members, Dr. Cynthia Bouton, Dr. Katherine Kelly, and Dr. Sally Robinson for all of their help and support throughout the many evolutions of this project. Additionally, thanks to my family for their patience, understanding, and support throughout the process. I would like to thank my colleagues in the Texas A&M English Department for their guidance and lively discussions, particularly Rebecca Stout Fields, Tom Martin, Tracy Boyd, and Rebecca Caldwell. I want to extend my gratitude to my friends for their love and continued understanding, especially Geoff Wyche and Andy Son. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………… iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………............ v TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………....... vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION…………………………………………. 1 II “IMPORTANTLY MOTHERLESS”: SPONTANEOUS CHILD CREATION AND MALE MATERNITY………… 24 History of Male Maternity…………………………………. 27 “Five Years Old and Reading Pushkin”: Jake’s Response to Foster Care………………………………………………….. 32 “He’s Ours”:Pussy’s Dreams of Motherhood……………… 38 Madonna and Whore: Leopold Bloom’s Loss of Legacy….. 52 III “YOU CAN’T PROTECT YOUR WOMEN”: MALE IRISH PROTAGONISTS AS PROTECTOR IN POPULAR AMERICAN AND IRISH FILMS, 1984-1998..…………… 61 Male Masochism and the Son Role…………………………. 63 Son as Victim, Martyr, and Savior………………………….. 65 American vs. Irish Depictions………………………………. 71 The Jackal : Declam Mulqueen as Sacrificial Sharpshooter… 72 Blown Away : Liam’s Heroic Sacrifice……………………… 77 A Prayer for the Dying : Martin as Religious Sacrifice……... 83 The Boxer : Danny as Peaceful Pugilist……………………... 89 The Crying Game : Fergus as Substitute Savior…………….. 96 Cal : Protagonist as Redeemed Sinner………………………. 109 IV ARTICULATION AND STASIS: THE SON AS HAUNTED ECHO OF THE FATHER IN MCCANN’S SONGDOGS …. 118 Articulation………………………………………………….. 121 Stasis………………………………………………………… 133 Death and Photography……………………………………... 134 Doubling and the Cyclical Life……………………………... 138 Juanita: The Center of the Circle……………………………. 145 The Objects of Michael’s Photographs……………………… 147 vii CHAPTER Page Photographs as Evidence and Conor’s Oedipal Response…. 158 Conclusion…………………………………………………... 163 V FAILING FATHERS AND COPY-CAT SONS: THE MYTHIC FICTIONS OF THE PATERNAL ROLE……….. 165 Michael Moran: A Legacy of Verbal and Physical Abuse….. 170 The Pig and the Priest: A Legacy of Violence Intensified….. 179 Henry as Father and Son: A Legacy of Murder for Hire……. 193 Henry the Son as Father…………………………………….. 200 VI CONCLUSION……………………………………………... 212 Irish Catholic White Masculinity…………………………… 214 Areas for Further Research…………………………………. 216 Summation………………………………………………….. 218 WORKS CITED............................................................................................. 219 VITA………………………………………………………………………… 228 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Article 41 of the Constitution of Ireland states: 1.1 The State recognizes the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law. 1.2 The State, therefore, guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State. As is evident by its inclusion in the Irish Constitution, the “Family” is an integral part of both Irish culture and politics to the point where it is defined as “primary,” “fundamental,” and indispensable” to the nation as a whole. 1 The family is also understood as a model for the nation in Ireland; As David Lloyd writes, “As in the family, so in the nation, as nationalist ideologists have so often stressed” (16). 2 Although family is not defined within the Constitution itself, culturally it is understood to refer only to the heterosexual nuclear family. Other non-traditional family forms, homosexuality, and women’s rights are often viewed as a threat to this family unit (Conrad 4-5). Hence, there is an Irish cultural need to protect the idea of nuclear family from outside forces or This dissertation follows the style and format of the MLA Style Manual . 1 The term “Family” refers to heterosexual, nuclear, traditional family roles as created by the Irish mythos. 2 Marilyn Cohen and Nancy J. Curtin make this same claim: “Feminists have long argued that the family or private domain is no less political than the public, and further…the private has been aggressively colonized by the public in Ireland. Familist ideology is, after all, as many of our contributors remind us, enshrined in Article 41 of the Constitution” (5). 2 threats; this struggle emerges, both are portrayed as nearly equivalent within the context of contemporary culture, and this is reflected through its repeated centrality in literature and film. When I first began this dissertation project, I truly expected to find that post- Independence novels and film would demonstrate the development of new Irish masculine identities that functioned as a subversion of the gender norms, particularly those established during British colonization. 3 It is typical of victims of Imperial policy to subvert cultural gender norms, so it would stand to reason that Irish post-Independence texts would follow this pattern. 4 This was my initial assumption. However, due to my interest in the effects of Irish National discourse on Irish masculinity, I limited my scope in this project solely to works by male authors and male directors, while maintaining a feminist perspective and method. What I found by examining this set of texts described in this dissertation – along with many others that follow the pattern but which are not included here -- surprised me. The works of male authors and film directors demonstrate a desire for subversive behaviors and new possibilities for identity in a newly independent nation. But this desire is consistently trumped by the magnetic pull of conservative Irish cultural ideological norms. The resulting texts present a constant negotiation between the desire for change and the seduction of familiar roles. 3 “Subversion” here refers to the action of utilizing concealed or disguised means to overthrow, disturb, break up, upset or undermine. 4 Homi Bhabha discusses this in “Signs Taken for Wonders.” 3 I came to understand this negotiation through the neo-Marxist concept of ideology. Literary texts symbolically