Angela’s Ashes

Page 246 line 16…

Families up and down the lane are getting telegrams money orders from their fathers in England. They rush to the post office to cash the money orders so they can shop and show the world their good fortune on Saturday night and Sunday morning. The boys get their hair cut on Saturdays, the women curl their hair with iron tongs [ks1] hot from the fire. They’re very grand now the way they pay sixpence or even a shilling for seats at the Savoy Cinema where you’ll meet a better class of people than the lower classes who fill the tuppenny[ks2]  seats in the gods at the Lyric Cinema…

By Frank McCourt

 Until the 1990s Ireland was known as” the sick man of Europe” (Observer 217/218, 1999). After the economic boom Ireland experienced at the end of the 20^th century, this is no longer a nickname that fits.The reasons for this “boom” are many. One of the most important reasons[1] is the increase in foreign investments in Ireland – particularly from the United States.Ireland has become a country where business is very profitable. This is due to the fact that the Irish government decided to introduce cutbacks in public spending and in that way restore the nation’s finances. Once this was in place the interest rate fell and tax cuts were introduced. When the price for borrowing money fell the consumption increased and business investments followed.Also Ireland has developed health care and education considerably during the last part of the 20^th century.So Ireland is no longer a country you flee. On the contrary the green island has become attractive – not only to the Irish themselves, but also to people from other countries.         

Immigration, emigration and net-migration in Ireland, 1987-2003[2]    In 1996 Ireland reached its migration “turning point”.  It now had more immigrants than emigrants. Irish emigration in the 20th century peaked in 1989 and has been on the decline ever since.  Immigration So Ireland has changed from being a land of emigrants to being a land of immigrants. Because of the low unemployment rate, but also because of an excellent health care and free education Ireland has become interesting to people seeking asylum, people from other EU countries and even Irishmen who have emigrated.Ireland’s labour immigration policies are among the most liberal in Europe, and until 2004 parents to children born in Ireland had an automatic right to permanent residence. In 2004 the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern conveyed that the system was misused, since 60% of the female asylum seekers were pregnant when they applied for asylum. Later the same year a Supreme Court judgement removed the right to permanent residency for parents of children born in Ireland. In January 2005 a new Nationality and Citizenship Act came into effect. Children born after first of January 2005 will get the same citizenship as their parents.People seeking asylum come from Nigeria, Romania, Moldova, Zimbabwe, Ukraine and Poland. It is quite a paradox that many of these people have the same integration troubles as similar people in Denmark. Henry McDonald, an Ireland Correspondent at The Guardian[3], wrote an article about how children from non-Irish ethnic backgrounds were not allowed into the local Catholic schools – simply because they were not Catholics. Since 90% of the schools in Ireland are Catholic schools it can be very difficult for people of other beliefs to become integrated into the community. The Irish government believed that the need for migrant workers would fall dramatically after the EU enlargement in 2004. (10 countries) They decided to grant access to the Irish labour market to all members of the EU. This meant that Ireland could get all the labour it needed from the EU and many people from other member countries of the EU move to Ireland today. The return of the Irish     During the last 10 – 15 years many Irish emigrants, who left their home country to seek happiness and fortune abroad, have returned to Ireland.Actually nearly half of the immigrants that rush into Ireland these years are Irish. They may have been born in another country, but by Irish parents and therefore they are considered Irish.Now you can easily find a job with a good salary and promotion possibilities. The housing situation and the general economy of the country are developing at great speed. Education has become free. There is no longer any need or reason for not living in your home country. It is obvious that emigrants have maintained a longing to return to their families and their home country and the present situation in Ireland offers many emigrants the possibility to return. Emigration With an increase of immigration, the number of immigrants has exceeded the number of emigrants, but still today a large number of people are leaving Ireland. From a population of 6 million people roughly 200,000 emigrate every year. In comparison with other European countries it is a relatively large number. The reason for leaving varies, but a common denominator is meeting personal demands. A large part of the emigrants leave: ·           To improve their possibilities of  further education·           To advance their careers·           To find better jobs with possibilities of promotion ·           To obtain better salaries A majority of the Irish emigrating within recent years are fairly well-educated specialists attracted by low cost of living or seeking new challenges within the labour market. The largest group has found employment within technical or computer-related industries.To a minority the social, political and cultural policy in Ireland is the reason for their decision on emigrating. The situation in Northern Ireland has been the crucial factor to a small group of emigrants. To a relatively large group, the main reason for leaving is simply the desire of exploring the world, looking for adventures.  Present emigrants are spread around the world, but they have a large preference for English-speaking countries of which the USA is the favourite.  Sources:          The Irish Mind Abroadirish-go-to-australia  migration.ucc.ie/irishinpariswww.globalvisas.com www.migrationinformation.org www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstorywww.guarian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/25/schoolwww.community.meath.ie/culture                

[3] British newspaper

Angela’s Ashes!

I have chosen to work with a passage from Angela’s Ashes. The passage I have chosen begins at page 246 line 8 What is dad to do… to page 249 line 6 …we can all go to America.

I intent to use this passage the middle of 8^th grade or the beginning of 9^th grade. The language and the topic are quite difficult but I believe the issues will motivate and engage a teenage class.

I plan to work with this book in my course on Irish culture and history. I will arrange for them to read about and work with Irish history, and when we read about the 1930ties to 1940ties I will let the pupils read this passage.

The vocabulary in this passage is not easy for Danish pupils in the 8^th or 9^th grade. It has not been prepared and simplified for pupils on this level. Words like eternal damnation, munitions, lower class, iron tongs, the dole, night girls, wireless and tormenting need to be explained.

Also some cultural references make it difficult for this group to read the passage. Expressions like tuppenny seats, fish and chip shops, scratching their arses on the queue at the Labour Exchange, look what the English did to us for eight hundred years, able to lord it over the families that don’t also need some extra explanation.

With this in mind I chose to work with some words and expressions. The pupils are already familiar with the Irish history in this period. I will start by giving them a brief orally introduction of who the author is and a short resume of his life story. After that I will pick out some of the difficult words: e.g. the dole, wireless, tormenting, lower class. I will ask them to use their dictionary and find the right explanation for the words.

E.g.

A: radio

B: To cause suffering

C: people with a low income

D: where you get your money from when you don’t have a job

After that I will ask the pupils to read the text at home. We will start the following lesson by reading part of the text loud in class or maybe the whole text depending on how it goes. After that we will talk about the above-mentioned cultural references.

After the reading I have prepared some questions for them to answer in groups.  I would like to concentrate on the Irish situation in the 2^nd world war. Who did they support and why?  I will ask them to reread the song on page 247. The song some Irish families sang during the 2^nd  World War. Why weren’t they loyal to the allied and why did they chose to work for them (the English) anyway? I think it is important that the pupils understand why the Irish reacted on the war the way they did. I want them to understand how poor some Irish were at the time. From this lessons I hope the pupils will also understand the relationship between the English and the Irish a little better.

I hope you will enjoy working with this as much as I have!

Mini module on Ireland, Task 1

The Road to Independence

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin was founded in 1902 as a nationalist political party in Ireland. The name is in Irish and means “We Ourselves”.

In 1918 Sinn Féin’s demand for a united, republican Ireland was supported by the population. It won the general election and established its own parliament in Dublin. In January 1919 Sinn Féin declared Ireland to be independent of Britain.

The guerrilla war from 1919-1921 was led by the underground republican government. Sinn Féin split in 1922 caused by disagreement about the Anglo-Irish Treaty which divided Ireland into two parts. Sinn Féin continued as the political part of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and supported actively an Irish union.

In the 1960s, the party demanded British withdrawal from Northern Ireland and protested against the unfair treatment of the nationalists in the province.

At the beginning of this century, Sinn Féin took part in the peace talks on Northern Ireland.

In the 2007 elections Sinn Féin became the second largest party in Ireland and joined the government.

Relevant links: wimps.org.uk

IrishRebelSong-Sniper’sPromise

Easter Rising

This rising began on Easter Morning, April 1916 as a republican revolt against the British government in Ireland.

Barricades in the street outside the GPO.

About 2000 Irish Volunteers and members of the Irish Citizen Army seized the Dublin General Post Office (GPO) and other strategic points in Dublin.

In the GPO the rebels removed the British flag and replaced it with a green, white and orange tricolour – the Irish flag. For the first time this flag waved over Dublin.

T

Outside GPO after non-stop artillery

attack.

he rebels fought bravely as British troops surrounded them. Dublin was in flames and over 3,000 people died. After five days of fighting, British troops had defeated the rebels. The leaders were given secret military trials and fifteen of them were executed.

These executions united the Irish people against the British and it was the beginning of the end of British control in Ireland.

Relevant links: EasterRising1916, EasterRisingPrisoners and EasterRising1916

The War of Independence

From 1919 to 1921 the Irish fought against the English in order to become an independent republic.

In 1918 most of the Irish people had voted for the Irish party, Sinn Fein. Instead of entering the British Parliament, Sinn Fein built up an independent Irish parliament. This parliament also had its own army, The Irish Volunteers – later known as the Irish Republican Army, IRA.

T

Michael Collins

he War of Independence started because some members of the IRA killed some English police officers. This developed into a guerrilla war with Michael Collins as the leader of the IRA.

During the next two years this war spread across most of Ireland bringing a lot of violence and suffering not only to the soldiers, but also to the Irish people.

I

The English special brigades, known as the “Black and Tans” were especially brutal towards the Irish

t is said that the reason why the English chose to surrender at last was that they realised that they could not win in this kind of guerrilla warfare. Therefore England offered Ireland a treaty where 26 counties of Ireland would be united in a Free State.

The North Eastern part of Ireland consisting of 6 counties would still be under British Rule. This lead to the partition of Ireland.

The Partition

The North Eastern part of Ireland was mostly populated by pro- British Protestants.

Therefore it was natural for the British government to make a treaty where this part of Ireland still would be English.

But this partition of the country was to become the reason for massive conflicts for many, many years.

T

White area: the Free State

he Sinn Fein only accepted this partition unwillingly and found that it was necessary in order to get some peace. But they were still keen on fighting for a united, independent Ireland.

In Northern Ireland there was still a conflict between pro-British Protestants and pro-Irish Catholics. In Ireland there was still a conflict going on because not everybody was satisfied with this partition of their country.

The Civil War of Ireland

A

Illustration 1:Soldiers marching in the Civil War 1922

s a result of the Irish War of Independence the Anglo-Irish Treaty was formed. The treaty provided for a self-governing Irish state in 26 of Ireland’s 32 counties, having its own army and police. Ireland would be a self-governing part of the British Empire with the British monarch as Head of State, in the same manner as Canada and Australia. The Treaty also stated that members of the new Irish Parliament had to take an Oath of Allegiance where they had to swear that they would be faithful to the British king.

This Treaty divided the Irish into two groups, the Irish Free State (pro-treaty) and the Irish Republican Army (Anti-Treaty), and caused the Civil War of Ireland to break out June 28, 1922. The war ended May 24, 1923.

The Result was a confirmation of the Irish Free State and defeat of the Anti-Treaty IRA forces.

Republic of Ireland Act 1948

I

Illustration 2: Ireland – no longer under British rule

n 1948 a new bill was introduced to declare Ireland a Republic. The description of the state was to be the Republic of Ireland. It meant that the King of Ireland (the British Monarch) no longer was head of State, and upgraded the Irish President to a full head of State. The Act was enacted with all parties voting for it.

This also meant that Ireland had definitively left the Commonwealth. Ireland had not participated in the Commonwealth for some years prior to the Act. The London Declaration permitted republics to remain in the Commonwealth, but the Irish government did not reapply for membership.

The War of Independence started because some members of the IRA killed some English police officers.This developed into a guerrilla war with Michael Collins as the leader of the IRA. During the next two years this war spread across most of Ireland bringing a lot of violence                                                                                                              and suffering not only to the soldiers, but also to the Irish people.

It is said that the reason why the English chose to surrender at last was that they realised that they could not win in this kind of guerrilla warfare. Therefore England offered Ireland a treaty where 26 counties of Ireland would be united in a Free State.The North Eastern part of Ireland consisting of 6 counties would still be under British Rule. This lead to the partition of Ireland.

The Partition

The North Eastern part of Ireland was mostly populated by pro- British Protestants.

Therefore it was natural for the British government to make a treaty where this part of Ireland still would be English.

 But this partition of the country was to become the reason for massive conflicts for many, many years.The Sinn Fein only accepted this partition reluctantly and found that it was necessary in order to get some peace. But they were still keen on fighting for a united, independent Ireland.In Northern Ireland there was still a conflict between pro-British Protestants and pro-Irish Catholics. In Ireland there was still

a conflict going on because not everybody was satisfied with this partition of their country.

As a result of the Irish War of Independence the Anglo-Irish Treaty was formed. The treaty provided for a self-governing Irish state in 26 of Ireland’s 32 counties, having its own army and police. Ireland would be a dominion of the British Empire with the British monarch as Head of State, in the same manner as Canada and Australia. The Treaty also stated that members of the new Irish Parliament had to take an Oath of Allegiance where they had to swear that they would be faithful to the British king. This Treaty divided the Irish into two groups, the Irish Free State (pro-treaty) and the Irish Republican Army (Anti-Treaty), and caused the Civil War of Ireland to break out June 28, 1922. The war ended May 24, 1923.

The Result was a confirmation of the Irish Free State and defeat of the Anti-Treaty IRA forces.

Republic of Ireland Act 1948.

In 1948 a new bill was introduced to declare Ireland a Republic. The description of the state was to be the Republic of Ireland. It meant that the King of Ireland (the British Monarch) no longer was head of State, and upgraded the Irish President to a full head of State. The Act was enacted with all parties voting for it.

This also meant that Ireland had definitively left the Commonwealth. Ireland had not participated in the Commonwealth for some years prior to the Act. The London Declaration permitted republics to remain in the Commonwealth, but the Irish government did not reapply for membership.

The Road to Independence

Sinn Féin is a nationalist political party in Ireland. The name is in Irish and means “We Ourselves”. The party was founded in 1902, and its policy involved passive resistance to the British and the establishment of an Irish ruling council. In 1918 the population supported Sinn Fein’s demand for a united, republican Ireland. It won the general election with an overwhelming majority and established its own parliament in Dublin. In January 1919 Sinn Féin declared Ireland to be independent of Britain.The following three years of guerrilla war was led by the underground republican government. The party split in 1922 on the issue of the Treaty which partitioned Ireland. Sinn Féin continued as the political part of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and actively supported Irish unification.In the 1960s, the party demanded British withdrawal from Northern Ireland and protested against the unfair treatment of the nationalists in the province. In the late 20^th and the early 21^st centuries, Sinn Féin participated in the peace talks on Northern Ireland. Relevant links: wimps.org.uk                                    

Easter Rising

This rising is also called ‘Easter Rebellion’, and it began on Easter Morning, April 1916 as a republican revolt against the British government in Ireland.

  About 2000 Irish Volunteers and members of the Irish Citizen Army seized the Dublin General Post Office (GPO) and other strategic points in Dublin. 

In the GPO the rebels removed the British flag and replace it with two others – a plain green one with the words ‘Irish Republic’ and a green, white and orange tricolour. It was the first time this flag had flown over Dublin.

The rebels fought bravely as British troops encircled them. Dublin itself was in flames and over 3,000 people died. After five days of fighting, British troops put down the rebellion. The leaders were given secret military trials and fifteen of them were executed.

By these executions a great fire of patriotism was set ablaze that would carry the Irish people though the coming years of widespread suffering and open armed rebellion.

 Relevant links: EasterRising1916  and EasterRisingPrisoners