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 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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1112 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Trayers, Shane Nicole |
| Contributors | Eide, Marian |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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