In five pages this play by Brian Friel is analyzed with the focus being upon the dynamics that exist between Owen the translator and Yolland the officer. Two sources are cited inthe bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_MBtranfriel.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
anyone else who contrives to tell the tale. This is part of the use of language by an author. The other influence on voice, it can be said, is the
authors life, itself. What has he or she experienced in his/her lifetime that has contributed to this unique perception and turn of phrase. In this respect, and ironically as well,
Brian Friel has succeeded in sharing a part of Irelands past during a time when one of the worst atrocities was appropriated on her. His themes are remarkably about language,
but the questions that arise from the play leave one asking deeper questions of self-identity, cultural identity and whether it is possible for true communication to take place between cultures
who dont see each other as equals, where one seeks to translate the other. This type of friction is illustrated best by the relationship between Owen and Yolland.
The play is Irish and so opens in a small Irish village called Donegal. The year is 1833 and the English have started
the very unruly task of converting all the Irish names into English ones, presumably in an effort to standardize everything, but realistically, Friel points out, it was to begin an
attempt at absorption of the Irish culture. This move to suppress Irish culture is evident in the way that the audience is shown a hedge school. These hedge schools are
clandestine schools that refuse to teach the British studies and instead focus on Irish based studies. Hugh ODonnell is the hedge
schools teacher and it is primarily his voice which tells a good part of the story. His sons, Manus, who is slightly lame, and Owen, who has left to start