The Search For National Identity

Roddy Doyle (1958 -) is one of the contemporary Irish novelists. His A Star CalledHenry, which was published in 1999, is in fact a historical novel. By telling the story ofHenry Smart's experience in the Irish nationalist movements which were carried out from1901 to 1921, the author explored the problems with the Irish nationalist movements andthe influence the problems made on the Irish nation and the nationalist movements. Identity is one of the popular themes in literary works. This thesis aims at elaboratingupon the issue of the Irish national identity as reflected in A Star Called Henry on the basisof textual analysis of the novel in combination with the examination of the Irish history andthe Irish nationalist movements from the perspective of nationalism. In the thesis, thecourse of the Irish nationalist movements, which were carried out for the liberation of theIrish nation, is regarded as a course of the search for the Irish national identity. Theproblems which originated in the course of the search for the Irish national identity and theinfluence these problems exerted on the development of the Irish nation and the nationalistmovements are discussed in the thesis. The thesis consists of five parts. A brief survey of the author and his works is madefirstly in the Introduction. From the retrospective view on the study of Doyle and his works,it is found that the theme of identity in the novel A Star Called Henry has receivedrelatively little discussion. The thesis is prepared to be an interpretation of the search for theIrish national identity from the perspective of nationalism. The problems originated in thecourse of the search for national identity and the influence the problems exerted will beexplored. The general definitions of nationalism and identity, which are frequently referredto in the thesis, are also introduced in this part. As the historical background of the novel has a close relation with the modern historyof Ireland, a brief survey of the modern history of Ireland is firstly offered in Chapter one.Secondly, the chapter analyses the origin of the Irish national identity crisis and itsmanifestations in the Irish politics and culture. The origin of the Irish national identity crisisis pointed out as the British colonization, which had lasted for hundreds of years. TheBritish colonization exerted great influence on the Irish politics, economy and culture. Inthe course of the British colonization, the local Irish political system was graduallyshattered and the sovereignty of Ireland was lost. The Irish national language, which is adistinctive mark of the Irish nation, was on the edge of extinction. Catholicism, anothermark of the Irish nation, suffered serious destruction. The image of the Irish people fosteredby the colonizers was inferior and degenerate. Both the national political and culturalidentities were in crisis. In the early twentieth century, the Irish national identity crisis wasdirectly trigged by the suspension of the Home Rule bill.Chapter two is devoted to a detailed textual analysis of how Henry Smart, the hero inA Star Called Henry, embarked upon the search for his independent identity andgradually got involved in the Irish nation's search for the Irish national identity. Henry'ssearch for identity can be divided into three periods. In the first period, Henry mainlysearched for his individual identity. Henry met identity crisis after his birth. Henry'sidentity crisis was shown in the fact that his parents refused to accept his authenticity of thename "Henry". The fact signaled that Henry was not accepted as an independent personwho was able to stand for himself. Henry's identity crisis was caused by the Britishcolonization of Ireland. In this period, Henry gained his primary ideology of the Irish nationin his childhood. Two major ingredients of Henry's national ideology were Irish custom andplace. At the same time, two distinctive marks of the Irish nation, the Irish nationallanguage and Catholicism, were denied to be the ingredients of Henry's national ideology.In the second period, as the Irish nationalist movements kept surging, Henry gradually gotinvolved in the Irish nation's search for the Irish national identity. Yet Henry's initialinvolvement in the nationalist movements was not driven by his national sentiment. Thesurvival crisis in the colony, which was a motivating force in Henry's life, was the realdriving force. In the 1916 Easter Rising, Henry carried out his revenge on the oppressiveclass which he took for granted as the creator of his hard life. After the repression of theEaster Rising, Henry gained a new understanding of the Irish nation and the goal of theIrish nationalist movements. In the third period, in the following War of Independence,Henry became a real nationalist fighter, who fought for the real freedom and liberation ofthe Irish nation. Ironically, Henry found out at last that he was used as an instrument bysome nationalist leaders. The oppression was repeated by the replacement of the colonialforce with a new class-based exploitive one. The national identity was in new crisis.With the affirmation of the positive effects of the Irish nationalist movements in theearly twentieth century, Chapter three mainly explores some problems in the nationalistmovements and the influence these problems exerted on the Irish nation and the Irishnationalist movements. Firstly, violent struggle was found to be a double-sided sword in thenationalist movements against the British domination. On the one hand, the violentstruggles pushed forward the Irish nationalist movements. On the other hand, the Irishpeople became victims of the violent struggles. Secondly, because the different politicalgroups were fighting for their own goals in the nationalist movements, a unified nationalistforce against the British colonization was failed to form. Finally, the political power wascaptured by the Irish national bourgeois, who turned out to become a new oppressive class.The real Irish national identity, which has a connotation of the elimination of oppression,was failed to obtain.It can be elicited from Henry's experience in the search for the Irish national identitythat the simple capture of the political power cannot generate the real liberation of thecolonial people. The national identity can only be accomplished after the elimination ofoppression of the colonial people. The Irish national identity crisis, which is revealed inDoyle' A Star Called Henry, is a common problem for some countries, which are formercolonies. The serious consideration of the issue of national identity is an important step forthese states on their way to the real accomplishment of national identity.