An Interpretation Of Irish Naitonalism In A Star Called Henry

Nationalism was a hot issue in the late19thcentury and the early20thcentury ofIreland. At that time, Irish people were eager to disentangle themselves from theoppression of Britain. Therefore, many political, economic and cultural nationalistindependence movements flourished under a group of famous nationalist leaders. AStar Called Henry is a famous novel by Roddy Doyle which is mainly about whatHenry sees and hears during his involvement in Irish nationalist movement in theearly20thcentury. Apart from the hero Henry, some are also described in the novel.The thesis mainly discusses the features of Irish nationalism through the perspectivesof different characters upon Irish nationalism in the novel. The purpose is to discoverthe advantages and disadvantages exposed in Irish independence movement in theearly20thcentury.The thesis consists of five parts. The first part is a brief introduction, includingthree sections. The first section is about the author of the novel and his works. Thesecond section introduces the plot of the novel as well as the development of Irishnationalism. Literature review will be made in the third section. The second part willbe an analysis of the protagonist Henry. The issue will focus on the evolvement ofHenry’s nationalistic idea. Three periods of Henry will be discussed. In the firstperiod, Henry experiences the tough life in his childhood and then takes part in EasterRising. He takes nationalist movement for a revengeful action towards oppression. Inthe second period, Henry rejoins in Irish independence movement and fights againstBritish army. His loyalty to nationalist movement is fully demonstrated. In the thirdperiod, Henry finds the real essence of Irish nationalist movement,.The third part willdiscuss the experience of minor characters of the novel in the period of Irishnationalist movement, analyse their ideas about Irish nationalist movement. Theseminor characters can be divided into two groups. One is the female characters who aremainly in pursuit of female rights. They are all dissatisfied with the contempt andsuppression from the patriarchal society and longing for attention and equality. In order to achieve their goal, they directly or indirectly attend the activities of Irishnationalist movement. The other group mainly contains five male characters. Theystruggle for different kinds of benefits during Irish nationalist movement. The fourthpart will focus on the generalization of features of Irish nationalism based on the ideasof Henry and minor characters in the novel. The features are mainly related to thebenefit conflicts of politics and economy as well as cultural discrepancy.