Gender issues in Friel Play - Essay Example

Gender Issues in Friel Play The literature discussion in this paper will focus on Friel’s play: Gender issues are as important as memory in Friel’s play, from Helen Lojek’s article the Dancing at Lughnasa and The Unfinished Revolution. The paper will use external literally articles to support the above argument. The paper will use the external article Brian Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa by Suman Gupta while focusing on the topic to assert the truth in the statement. Gender issues command a great influence in social lifestyle as described by Lojek and Gupta their articles. Lojek introduces her article by describing the views she observed in Brian Friel play about gender inequality. Friel (1993:46) observed the women struggle in the Irish Republic and indicated that societal revolution has yielded very little in creating equal opportunity for women (Lojek, 2007:79). The religious paternalism and secularisation that is evident in the society has not revolutionised the women world; instead, it has subjected them to social imbalances where women are symbols of insignificant ideals. The cultural trend in the Irish society promoted legislations that subjected women to roles within their homes. These cultural trends did not only infringe the advancement of women bright within their home boundaries, but also within the whole nation. Preservation of equality in the Irish society was equally hard because of the cultural influence. Lojek (2007:80) observed that despite the constitutional declaration in 1922, women could not rise from the bondage of culture to enjoy the newfound freedom that set them free from the tyrannical gender perception. Lojek (2007:80) pointed on the early work of Friel in which the central focus was the father son relationship. The relationship inspires the play while setting trends for women to follow. Women had limited choices to make especially when it came to making controversial decisions that were outside the home boundary. The play of Friel is a revelation about the societal perception about how gender is instrumental to civilisation. The society could not make steps without the contribution of women, yet it does not appear in Friel play that the same society acknowledged women efforts. The cultural perceptions created patriarchal system where gender perception characterised the choice that the society made. Concerning this, Friel could not miss to acknowledge the characteristics of the Irish community as described by Lojek in her article. The documentations of gender related issues have given rise constitution amendment, which aimed at transforming the society into a much better place for human survival. The traditional trends in the Irish community promoted the male gender bias as opposed to equality centred community. Gupta described societal inclinations in her article by focusing on human activities shaped by gender perception. In particular, Gupta (2012:242) observed the social trends in Ireland in relation to gender and remarked that the social trends were subject to gender inclination. The same would apply to the views projected by Friel. The society has defined its social chores with respect to gender, thus a woman place would be the kitchen. The same trend was applicable during the world war where male gender was subject war while the female gender was subject to duties within their homes. The correlation that exists between two paradigms is the place of gender in relation an individual position in the society. The participation of women in political activities as well as running church matters is a concern that Lojek has addressed in her article. She posits that women do not participate in political affairs of their countries or geographical origins (Lojek, 2007:83). The same trend seems to apply in churches. Women are critical to the societal growth at whatever level, however, the society does not seem to recognise their role in steering the societal ideals. Politics is crucial to development social ideals because it influences policy making which would define the trend applied in national growth. The representation of gender in the political activities is concern that Friel observed. In the play he argued that women representation in political affairs is lacking, thereby promoting the oppressive political systems that have failed to recognise the participation of women in societal development (Friel, 1993:56). Gupta tends to address the same influence with relation to women gender. She asserts that the Irish communities do embrace political systems that promote specific ideas about gender. These ideas would define the extent of operation or approaches that the female would take in developing their societies. Politics is a subject that incorporates gender bias. This means that policy making which is a recipe of political interest would address a given issues in the society when the parties holding the political office seem to recognise such interest. The value of political representation would be evident when gender equality is evident in the activities. Lojek (2007:80) observed that Friel poetry on gender addressed the concern about representation. Friel notated male chauvinists Hugh O’Neill who believed that women place in the current political sphere does not exist. O’Neill argued that if in women has to represent the male folk, then it must not be now, may be some time to come. Gupta (2012:253) tends to echo similar concerns; she argued that discrimination in society is concern, which the society should address. She observes that societal discrimination is rampant in the society especially in employment places. Many employers have failed regard women employees or offers good employment opportunity to them. In the poem, she pointed out that unequal representation in the job market need to some gender equality concern. Employment biases do not advance the gains in societal equality especially when women figures fail to participate in development issues. The poem, in Gupta’s view shows how fight against poverty is would be hard to win when gender equality is not evident in the society (Gupta, 2012:238). Since the society does not balance gender based factors women and other activists who feel that equality must exists in the society will have to employ their efforts as well as memorising strategies to win the way. The promise in the poem is to employ efforts, which would advance the fight against discrimination. Activists addressing gender concern equip themselves with information about gender-based biases in order to create a lasting influence to the policy makers. Thus, the fight addressing poverty in the society would be relevant when it touches on gender biases because of the influence that gender exerts in the poverty fight. Cultural aspects are critical to fight against gender inequality. Lojek (2007:242)) observed that Friel poems were against cultural trends that were retrogressive. She observed that critics of Friel did not like Friel’s stand on addressing gender-based biases. The argument flouted by the critics is that Friel was a man and his perception against gender should not focus its concern on women affair (Lojek, 2007:245). Ideally, the memory line of Friel in relation to gender biases in the Irish society is concern that is worth addressing. The position of the Irish women with respect to gender role did not advance or position them to address any development agenda in the society. Thus, while Friel was repeating the statement in the poem it turns out in the minds of many as the most crucial issue that the society must address. It would be difficult for the society to claim that it respect the rights of humanity entrenched in constitution by Irish government when gender bias is not one of the concerns. In the view of Friel, the society shall have achieved less of its goals. Gupta related the Field Days activities in Ireland with the memory Friel’s play. She focused on their cultural trends in which she was quick to observe the gap created by gender inequality. For instance, she pointed out that women would trace their roles in their homes and would act in accordance to societal norms. She read their poetry and observed that the culture of the Ireland permitted the situation that permeated the inequality in the society. While in her travels, she examined the poetry of these countries and realised, although their structures are different, some being non-rhythmic while others are, the poems seems to discuss the cultural trend. Gupta (2012:256) asserts that the poem she read about Ireland evoked her childhood memory. Not surprising the memory she recalled was the childhood experience shaped by cultural norms. The participation of women in cultural activities placed their roles with their homes, taking care of their offspring. Friel observed the festivals in Irish community and related them to gender. He observed the role of women and men in the ceremony. He observed the poetry and stories told by the native Irish and realised that a woman had a special position in which he concludes by arguing that gender issues are critical to his observation. The activities that these people performed revolved around male or female gender. Thus, it would rather hard to escape gender issues as the memory. Each event illustrated in the poetry and stories that he heard were subject to a given gender. For instance, Friel (1993:56) observed that clothing style helped in distinguishing gender; however, he was quick to comment on the role of men in influencing social trends. The observation would thus revolve against the gender inclination within the society. The Irish community takes the shape it has because of the cultural inclination, which is observable through the gender roles. In this sense, gender issues would be the contention that Friel had to discuss or recall as the main factor influenced the shape of the society he observed in Ireland. Friel observed the family values in his work. He noted that the stories narrated by the Irish people and their songs revolved around the roles played in the families by different gender. For instance, Frael observed that the music Philadelphia, Here I Come! The music had wordings, which spoke about the family issues (Gupta 2012:267). These issues took shape following gender inclination. Lojek (2007:79) observed that critics such as Michael linked the memory of Friel to the music in thirties and noted that parents were critical in steering given values in the society. Summing up the societal activities in relation to the role played the various individuals within the context of the society would yield similar conclusion as the memory Friel about gender issues. Another notable instance in the work of Lojek that would support Friel memory is the argument about Celtic tradition and the role of Catholic Church influencing various outcomes in women lives. Lojek (2007:81) observed the genders issues transcending cultural boundaries getting into the church, the advocacy of morality that subjects women to cruelty. The cultural trends in which the pagans performed their rituals, did subject society to injustices, which could fit into the memory of Friel, the gender issues. Factors such the traits of men are central to the discussion in Lojek article. She observed that men posses similar traits unreliable, unsympathetic, unfaithful eager to enter into marriage often. She observed that renegade priests were party to the same cultural imbalances perpetrated by men. The extent of the above descriptions would be conclusive in the memory of Friel. Lojek literature described Mandy sisters has agents of change. The sisters left Ireland to London and did project different cultural trend, which were opposed to their retrogressive traditional trends. For instance, Kate buried traditional expectation about marriage through wedding or championing war (Lojek, 2007:80). She purposed to create a change that the society would accept as valuable to all. Women experienced difficult choices in the Irish society. The story Marriage of Nurse Harding illustrated instances of injustices directed towards women in the Irish community. The story pointed on the struggle to repeal elements of law that subjected women to inequality. Further, Lojek (2007:82) explored the works of Gandhi that linked India and Ireland. She remarks after making comparison of the constitutions of these two countries that the constitution have subjected women to inequality, thus a revolution should occur to overturn the state of events. In conclusion, the above discussion has illustrated instances of social injustices, which occurred due to gender-based inclinations. These literatures have confirmed Friel’s memory (gender issues) as worth. Bibliography Friel, B. 1993. Dancing at Lughnasa. New York: Dramatists Play Service. Gupta, S. 2012. Brian, Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa. The Twentieth Century. pp237-272.London: Bloomsbury Academy. Lojek, H. 2007. Dancing at Lughnasa and the unfinished revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More