Michael And Skinner example essay topic

Skinners last words in the play are, "So I died, as I lived, in defensive flippancy". Compare his behaviour over the course of the play with that of the other three characters. As people who are forced to suffer the conditions of life, power and injustice in Northern Ireland during the 1970's, Michael, Lily, and Skinner are each embodied in the 'culture of poverty' of the Catholic poor in Londonderry. Michael's unemployment, Skinner's nomadic lifestyle, and Lily's pitifully squalid living conditions unites the three in their oppressive, politically ruptured environment; and yet, each is one unto themselves, representing very different attitudes towards the struggle for change. Indeed, each has an unmistakably distinct character to display; but it is the enigmatic Skinner who possesses the political astuteness and perception that allows him to accurately discern that 'a price would be exacted' from their sacrilegious 'occupation' of the Guildhall. Michael Hegarty is an idealistic, committed, and somewhat na " ive, vulnerable, and pompous young man.

Yearning for disciplined, peaceful, and orderly reform, his reasons for being politically active are simple - 'a decent job, a decent place to live, [and] a decent town to bring up our children in'. His deferential respect for authority is his dominant trait - one that is scornfully despised by Skinner, whose disillusioned, cynical attitude towards the establishment permits him to be blunt, satirical and disdainful towards Michael's pacifist approach - 'They " re stupid enough. But as long as they " ve only got people like [Michael] to handle, they can afford to be'. He devoutly believes that if you 'give them no cheek, they " ll give you no trouble', convinced that the authorities will take the morality of their protest, and the 'mistake's ur rounding their being in the Guildhall, into consideration upon their emergence from the Mayor's parlour (when, in reality, they are simply labelled as subversive terrorists). Indeed, in quoting Gandhi, he asserts that 'As long as we don't react violently, as long as we don't allow ourselves to be provoked, ultimately we must win', thus dieing in 'disbelief, in astonishment, in shock', when the establishment betrays him. Lily Doherty is an instinctively maternal figure, whose primary concerns are focussed on the present, and the personal, in the quest for survival.

Compared to both Skinner and Michael, she is painfully politically ignorant, but is, nonetheless, honest in acknowledging the fact, with her motive for participating in the civil rights marches being her Mongol son, Declan - 'For him I go on all the civil rights marches. Isn't that stupid?' Her time in the Mayor's parlour is symbolic of escapist freedom, as it allows her to be transported from the daily grind of poverty that she so optimistically accepts as being her lot in life. Indeed, she is what could be termed as a survivor at the bottom of the socio-economic scale, who is completely encapsulated in the 'culture of poverty' that Professor Dodds so intricately describes. From this, comes the underlying reason for her death being one caused by 'grief'; her whole forty-three years had revolved around the never-ending struggle for survival, which had consumed her to such an extent that 'never once [... ] had an experience, an event, even a small unimportant happening been isolated, assessed, and articulated'. Lily's place in the 'culture of poverty' had prevented her from experiencing life, allowing it to 'all seep away' - eluding her. Indeed, she symbolizes the passive victims of an unjust, oppressive political and economic system which condemns them to destitution, and a life of mere survival.

And yet, unlike Michael and Skinner, she is one whose response to life is positive, spontaneous, and intuitive, despite all the daily hardships placed before her. Skinner (Adrian Casimir Fitzgerald) is often classed as being the 'dark horse' of the play, with his cynically realistic, facetious, and at times restless and anarchic disposition being the kind that authorities are quick to label as 'terrorist' material. His wide-ranging perspective and awareness of the globally applicable social struggle of the poor sets him, as is acknowledged by Professor Dodds, apart from the other two; for in 'acquire [ing] an objective view of [his] condition, [he has] broken out of [his] subculture, even though [he] may be desperately poor'. He readily identifies with the Catholic poor's sense of outrage towards the establishment, is extremely distrustful of the police, and is very clear on the strength of the authorities and the 'price' that would be exacted for their aforesaid sacrilegious trespass, which is poignantly articulated to the unassuming Michael and Lily with the words '... they leave nothing to chance and... the poor are always overcharged'. However, despite this comparative intelligence and insight into the realities of the political and economic condition of Londonderry, Skinner smothers his perceptive awareness behind cynical rebuffs, caustic humour, and 'defensive flippancy', lacking the 'solemnity' and 'seriousness' that would ultimately allow him to 'take [the authorities] on' in earnest. Michael, Lily and Skinner are three characters whose individuality and varying perspectives each embody particular aspects of Dodds' theory of the 'culture of poverty'.

Each possesses their own favourable attributes; for instance, Michael and his law-abiding honesty, and Lily and her maternal optimism. It is, however, Skinner, and only Skinner, who has the experience, knowledge and intelligence to identify the finer points of the plight of the Catholic poor. And it is this major element of his character that makes him stand alone.