Irish Language And Culture example essay topic

Irish-American Culture and Society Throughout the course of time, Ireland has suffered many losses. Ireland has been conquered, invaded, repressed, and tormented over many centuries. Because of Ireland's isolation and separation from the rest of the world, Irish history is very rich. Although Ireland had to live apart from the world, the people prevailed as a community that was, and still is very influential tothe rest of the world. Ireland has a very interesting social culture. The people and the community of Ireland are very unique.

It is important to study the history, the ways of life, and the culture of Ireland because of the influence that Ireland has had on the United States. History Ireland is a country in north-western Europe that occupies the greater part of an island lying to the west of Great Britain (BritannicaOnline). Because oceans surround Ireland, the geographic isolation has helped to develop a rich heritage of culture and tradition that was linked initially to a separate language. The smallness of the country makes for homogeneity and helps explain the nation's distinctive character (Britannica Online).

The history of Ireland is one of repression and invasion. Even though Ireland has been invaded, conquered, and colonized, there is hardly an ethnic distinction. Neolithic people spread through Ireland around 3400 BC, replacing an earlier Mesolithic race of hunters, and introducing agriculture (Microsoft Expedia. com). In Ireland, Celtic influence, beginning about 400 BC forged cultural unity: a common language, anda rich oral tradition of poetry and song: laws that reflected customs and values of the entire island population; and a distinctive artistic style used in stone carvings, sculpture, and metalwork that continued to influence artists through the Middle Ages (Delaney, 1989). St. Patrick arrived in Ireland about 432, founding churches and converting many of the Irish people to th Catholic religion (MicrosoftExpedia. com). The Vikings were intrigued by the prosperity of the Irish monasteries and began to invade Ireland and create the first towns.

In 795, the Norsemen invaded Ireland, and then in 1014 they were defeated. In 1171, the recognition of Henry II as lord of Ireland and the linking of the church to a foreign administration terminated the independence of Gaelic Ireland and reduced the country to a position of subordination for centuries to come (BritannicaOnline). Henry II sent an Anglo-Norman army to conquer Irish land so that the majority of the island would be under British rule. There was an Irish revolt in the 14th century. England's Henry V seized control of theIrish Church and made himself king of Ireland (Microsoft Expedia. com). Queen Elizabeth I encouraged English settlement in Ireland, and soon English and Scottish Protestants settled in Irish land.

Catholic landowners rebelled, once again, and were punished bythe British Parliament. The country was devastated in the 1940's by The Great Potato Famine. After the famine, many emigrated, and others revolted against the government. Two Separate Cultures The first culture is the Republic of Ireland. They are the true Irish. The Unionists of the Republic of Ireland are independent from the rule of Britain.

The people are nationalists, republicans, and Catholic. There are 3 +-4 million people that live in the Republic of Ireland. Dublin is the most important city. Dublin is by far the most important commercial and industrial city in Ireland (Pounds).

Even though English is spoken widely throughout Ireland, Irish is the first official language. The country is overpopulated with children, and unemployed adults. The Nationalist flag is made up of three vertical stripes. The first stripe is green and it represents the Nationalist culture. The second stripe is white and it represents the peace that should be between the two Irelands. The third stripe is orange and it represents the Unionist culture.

The second culture is Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and has a population of 1 +-2 million inhabitants. Northern Ireland citizens are considered Loyalists because they remained faithful to the rule of England. Belfast is the most important city in Northern Ireland. It is very industrially developed. Two important industries developed during the 1800's were linens and shipbuilding (Pounds).

Northern Ireland is known to be a very intense area. There is a lot of publicized violence that occurs because of the divisions between groups in the lower classes. There is also a struggle over the political future of NorthernIreland, which creates hostility. Economy, Government, and Social Conditions The republic has a mixed economy.

The constitution provides that the state shall favor private initiative in industry, but, when necessary private initiative is not forthcoming, the state itself undertakes essential services and promotes development services (Britannica Online). Many state-sponsored bodies operate agriculture, chemical industries, mining, manufacturing, construction, and tourism. More than half of Ireland's trade is with the United Kingdom. The Irish Republic is a parliamentary democracy (BritannicaOnline). The president, who is elected by direct vote, is the head of the state and the first citizen. The two houses are very similar to the houses of theUnited States.

The Senate elects people to represent different economic, vocational, and cultural interests. The Government is the executive power ofthe state, and is headed by the Prime Minister. The political parties that are prevalent in Ireland are also very similar to the parties that are known to theUnited States. Irish law is based on common law as modified by subsequent legislation and by the constitution (Britannica Online). Like the UnitedStates, there are local courts and higher courts.

There are no police in the Republic of Ireland. Instead, Guardians of the Peace serve as ministers of the justice. Schooling is compulsory for nine years (between the ages 4 and 15) and about two-thirds of all children continue schooling thereafter (Microsoft Expedia. com). The government provides free education in primary and secondary schools, and it grants rewards for children attending religious and other private schools.

The Higher Education Reformation was established to deal with the problems of education (BritannicaOnline). Like education, health care is promoted in Ireland. Health examinations, child welfare clinics, and the treatment of tuberculosis and infectious diseases are available to all free of charge (BritannicaOnline). Other than those severe conditions, the cost of health services depends on the patient's means. People who cannot afford to pay are assisted and others are given prices according to need. Catholicism In 432, St. Patrick, the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland brought Christianity and spread it through Ireland.

Although there is freedom of religion in Ireland, 95% of Irish are Roman Catholic. The Catholic Church has played an integral role in Ireland's cultural history (Microsoft Expedia. com). The primary cultural force and the national unifier of the Irish was the Catholic Church. Religious loyalty became closely tied with the Irish desire to recover the irland and heritage (McGoldrick, 312). The Irish Roman Catholic Church was banned by England and was isolated from the world. After the church was not accepted by the world, Catholicism became stricter.

They possessed a grim theology, became rigid, authoritarian, and moralistic. The Church's control was increased by holding the key to salvation in a land where this life has offered so little. (McGoldrick, 313). The Catholic Church kept a universal impact onthe lives of children through parochial schools. The rigidity of the Church led to a moralistic vision among the Irish and a tendency to righteousness (McGoldrick). In the Catholic religion, divorce and abortion are both illegal (Microsoft Expedia. com).

Enthusiasm for Christianity was leading Irishmen to devote themselves to a most austere existence as monks, as hermits, and as missionaries (Britannica Online). The monasteries of Celtic Ireland between the 7th and 9th centuries produced skillful metalwork, including plates and bowls etched with Biblical scenes, but they are best known for their illuminated gospels (Microsoft Expedia. com). Irish monasteries illuminated initial letters on the manuscripts with intricate ribbons and zoomorphic designs (Britannica Online). Monks were very scholarly and monasteries became centers of learning and were responsible for studies and mythology.

The Irish Catholic monasteries had a profound effect onthe Irish language. The Irish culture had uttermost respect for priests and monks because they were very close to God. The Great Irish Potato Famine The Potato Famine was devastating to the people of Ireland. In the Irish countryside, the family was the unit of production and survival (McAllister Swap, 9). In order to produce enough food for their families on the small owned plots of land; cultivation was limited to potatoes. Poor citizens of Ireland lived very badly.

Because Ireland was such a poor society, there was little opportunity for employment. To keep the poor oppressed, higher society used force such as violence to keep the poor in their class. There were many reasons that led to disaster. Agriculture was hard work, and the population was growing at a tremendous rate.

By the early 1840's, much of the Irish population, Especially the poor, were entirely dependent on the potato for their diet. Reliance on one crop made the Irish peasant family vulnerable: fourteen potato famines struck Ireland between 1816 and 1842 (McAllister Swap, 9). In 1845, there was a partial crop failure because of unusual weather and anew fungus disease. By 1846, disaster in the potato fields of Ireland was complete. About 1,100,000 people died from starvation or from typhus and other famine-related diseases because there was no medical advancement to cure them. The number of Irish who emigrated to North America and Britain during the famine may have reached 1.5 million (Britannica Online).

The Irish died while the British watched (McAllister Swap 10). There were people that asked for help from the English government. The Viceroy in Ireland was denied. In less than five years, Ireland lost more than 2 + million of its population. Emigration By 1930, almost 5 million Irish had arrived in the UnitedStates, and even today some continue to come. In fact, no other country has given up a greater proportion of its population to the United States than has Ireland (McGoldrick, 312).

The Irish came to the United States wanting to forget the oppression that they had suffered in the past years and the poverty they were fleeing from. The majority of the next generation thought ofthemselves as Americans and gradually intermarried mostly into the Roman Catholic religion. It was easy for the Irish to retain most of their culture... because (1) their assimilation did not require them to give up their language, (2) parochial schools run primarily by Irish nuns and priests transmitted Irish cultural values to generations of Irish American children, and (3) Irish values, strongly influenced for many centuries by British domination, permitted the Irish to assimilate without giving up their own deeply rooted culture (McGoldrick, 312). Immigrants from this time period of Irish history came to theUnited States with few reserves or skills (McAllister Swap, 10). They were peasants who needed a quick entry into employment. Like the English, the Unitedstates looked upon Irish as being on the lowest labor status in industrial America.

The Irish-Americans had to work very hard to attain high social respect. The Irish became the builders of America. They worked on railroads, bridges, and canals. They also took up other occupations for which their heritage prepared them: saloon keeping, the priesthood, police work, politics, civil service, and, as they moved up, the law. Irish women became domestic servants, factory workers, boarding house keepers, and, later, nurses and teachers (McGoldrick, 312). I Irish-American Culture Acculturation affects ethnic groups in various ways; there have naturally been many changes in the Irish in America as a result of intermarriage, upward mobility, and geographical relocation.

The cultural continuity focuses on the ways in which Irish-Americans retain the cultural characteristics of their Irish heritage (Mcgoldrick, 310). The Irish are a very paradoxical people. There is a saying: The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made and, for all their wars are merry, and all their song are sad. There is said to be a charm and joviality when the Irish band together, and yet they seem to suffer from sense of isolation, sadness, and tragedy. The Irish will fight against all odds, and yet they have a strong sense of human powerlessness in relation to nature (McGoldrick, 311). The culture places great value on conformity andrespectability.

Irish history is full of rebels and fighters, but they tend tobe compliant and accepting of authoritarian figures. They are very loyal to their own, yet they often cut off relationships. In historical context, sex, not surprisingly, has been called the lack of the Irish (McGoldrick, 314). The Irish viewed sex as extremely dangerous. They also avoided tenderness, affection, and intimacy. Members of an Irish family are often isolated from each other.

The Irish culture could be described as cold, frustrated, sexless, repressed people, with little emotional flexibility and practically no capacity to give themselves in intimate relationships. Emotions are kept under control by internal guilt feelings and external ridicule (McGoldrick, 314). The traditional Irish jig reflects the repression of bodily experience. A skilled dancer moves his or her feet quickly and precisely while keeping the rest of the body as motionless as possible. The greatest resource of the Irish was their verbal talent.

The poet has always been the most valued member of the community. Poets were the only citizens allowed to move freely around Ireland, and like the Church, they contributed to the cultural unity of the country (McGoldrick, 314). Irish love the poets views on life because of the constant struggle between reality and dreams. The Irish tend not to believe that their dreams will come true (Arensberg and Kimball, 219). Although the Irish do not always believe in dreams, they value them more than reality because they fear that truth will uncover how bad they are, but dreams are fantasy, so it is acceptable to have the thoughts.

Although the Irish have a reputation for being bombastic, belligerent, and sentimental, (McGoldrick, 316), they have a great sense of humor. Humor is one of the greatest strengths and offers then one of their few avenues for expression of disallowed feelings (Arensberg and Kimball, 237). TheIrish form of joking says one thing and means another. Teasing and ridicule is especially common in Irish family and relationships.

The Irish came to operate on the basis of personal loyalty andrespectability. They pursued their political causes with passionate conviction. The Irish have been the most political of All-American ethnic groups (McGoldrick, 317). To this day, Irish families will exhibit a strong desire tobe liked and accepted and are very concerned with appearances. They will make every effort to avoid drawing attention to themselves through deviant behavior (Arsenberg and Kimball, 320). The Irish-American culture is very susceptible to emotional problems.

They seem to be most emotionally distressed because of marital problems, anxieties, phobias, or obsessive-compulsive problems. Alcohol is considered to be a cure-all for many problems, especially emotional ones. In any event, alcohol has been their universal disqualified and solution. It dulls the pain, keeps out the cold, cures the fever, eases the grief, enlivens the celebration, allows them all manner of expression, and even cures a hangover (McGoldrick, 318). The Irish drink alcohol at every occasion, and to some extent, is considered a substitute for food. The pub was the center of Irish life (Britannica Online).

Pubs were very important to the Irish people. It was where they could sit back, relax, enjoy a few good stories, and share a good time with others. Alcohol abuse has thus become a serious problem for theIrish and the cause of much family disruption (McGoldrick, 318). Therefore, alcoholism is tolerated as a good man's weakness. The male alcoholic cycle in an Irish family revolved around the cycle of sin, guilt, and repentance.

Although alcohol hardly produces many good effects, an individual is able to express feelings and emotions that are not usually expressed (Arsenberg and Kimball, 300). Because of the suffering that was endured during the oppression in Ireland, Irish-Americans possess a feeling of personal guilt that often leads them to assume that their suffering is deserved (McGoldrick, 319). The strict Catholic religion leads them to think that they are offering pain to God to be forgiven for their sins. Irish tend toward confusion and inaccuracy in describing their pain and they are silent and uncomplaining about their suffering even to close family members (McGoldrick, 320). Family life in Irish families is usually very strong. Usually, extended families live near each other and gather for holidays and joyous occasions (Microsoft Expedia. com).

Irish women traditionally dominated family life. The Irish wife was the brains, the manager, the savings bank, the realist for the notional and unrealistic husband... The Irish women had a hardy spirit, an undaunted courage, and, in asserting herself, an uninhibited brass (McGoldrick, 321). Women found their social life through the church. Irish women have always been considered morally superior to men. Because of difficulty expressing feelings, the Irish place less emphasis on marriage th another cultures.

Partners tend to resign themselves to an emotionally distant relationship (Arsenberg and Kimball, 366). The Irish tend to view people moralistically: good or bad, strong or weak, villain or victim (McGoldrick, 323). Irish families often label children by their behavior and role in the family. The position of the parents is one of extreme superordination, that if the children of extreme subordination (Arsenberg and Kimball, 59). Children are rarely praised by their parents and are often punished through ridiculing, belittling, and shaming. Because of the lack of closeness between the parents, the closest axis in the Irish family is the mother-son tie (McGoldrick, 324).

A mother's highest hopes would be for her brightest son to enter priesthood to save his soul and get an education. Most of the time, the bond between mother and son is so strong that Irish sons have a compulsion to please their mothers in order to get affection. It is very difficult for Irish families to get along because of tension and anger that builds up over time without resolution. As children grow older, they have a more independent, active view ofthemselves. The Irish-American has a strong background in arts and literature.

Irish music is loved the world over, and has influenced a good deal of the folk and country-western strains of American music (MicrosoftExpedia. com). The harp is a national symbol of Ireland, and was the instrument of choice for bards who traveled the Irish countryside reciting poetry and lyrics to music in the great houses. The most familiar Irish music consists of dancing tunes for reels, jigs, hornpipes, polkas, and waltzes. The Irish have avery deep respect for literature.

The Irish of the past honored their poets as soothsayers and sages; in more recent years, they founded the Gaelic League to preserve and promote Irish language and culture. Among the best-known Irish writers who were quite at home in London to make a fortune were poet and satirist, Jonathan Swift, playwrights William Congreve, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Oscar Wilde, and the poet and essayist Oliver Goldsmith (MicrosoftExpedia. com). Some of the best 20th-century influential writers have been of Irish descent, playwright George Bernard Shaw, novelist James Joyce, and poets. B. Yeats. Conclusion There are many different societies throughout the world. Each culture is interesting and important to the people that abide by its norms and mores. In order to understand how a culture works, all of the society's history must betaken into effect.

It takes years upon years to create a culture that is as rich and fascinating as the Irish-American culture. Even though the society began in a different land than the one they now call their own, it is important to take into account everything that happened to a group of people to be able to fully understand them. As the Irish became Americans, they did not lose their heritage. They only became more exciting and significant.

Arsenberg, Conrad and Solon Kimball. Family and Community in Ireland. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968. Delaney, Patrick.

Early Irish History. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1989 Ireland. Encyclopedia Britannica. 1998.

BritannicaOnline. Online. Britannica Interactive Inc. Ireland. 1998.

Microsoft Expedia. com. Online. Microsoft Network Inc. McAllister Swap, Susan and Jean Kra snow. A Saga of Irish-American Achievement: Constructing a Positive Identity. Boston, MA: Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children's Learning, 1992.

McGoldrick, Monica. Irish Families. White Plains, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997..