Dublin in Benjamin Walter's and Roddy Doyle's Books - Essay Example

? The Commitments The conditions and the overall environment have significant impact over its inhabitants. The surroundings actually play a vital role in framing the ideological perspectives of people while representing their subjectivity. Every writer who writes about his/her city actually symbolizes the culture and beliefs of a particular region in their writings. This is done with the effective use of different characters and writing techniques which have been efficiently utilized by Roddy Doyle in the 20th Century. This paper aims to critically analyze the books of these two writers in addition to identifying the impact that Dublin has over its subjects. In order to strongly argue upon the role of Dublin in creating its subjects or if the subjects created the surroundings in which people were living in that era, it is important to first reflect over the writings of both Doyle and Benjamin. Walter Benjamin in his writing ‘One Way Street’ clearly describes the underlying meaning of living in an urban environment and how the overall surroundings impact an individual’s perception, personality and the related actions (Benjamin). The story actually focuses on the city life in Germany which reflects Benjamin’s critical observations about the response which people give to their changing circumstances. Moreover, the author has presented significant evidences against the then introduced New World Order which significantly affected the German residents through strong conformism, gratification concerning human life and the concept of homogeneity (Benjamin). In all his writings, Benjamin has thoroughly discussed the role of children and youth in relation to the changing societal conditions. According to him children specifically remember their surroundings which later impact on their thinking patterns and daily routines (Benjamin). He believed that youth is naturally equipped with skills and hence whenever they face uncertainties around them, they robotically start utilizing their abilities in order to bring change and attain betterment. Therefore, it would not be wrong to term them as the dictators since they do what they decide while ultimately achieving their desired objectives (Benjamin). ‘The Commitments’ is one of the most renowned novels composed by Roddy Doyle. It is based on a fictitious representation of Dublin, Ireland. Barrytown is the place in Dublin which had some severe social and economic issues in the 1980s (Doyle). For instance, there was intense political instability in that region which was accompanied by corruption, unemployment, emigration, economic problems etc. Novel describes the city situation as aggressive, bankrupt and compressed by the Church. Hence as a result most of the residents in Dublin were drowned in to unethical practices which further ruined the city situation (Doyle). They were unable to meet the socioeconomic challenges which were significantly deteriorating their future generations. Instead of fighting back against the evil and injustice in the society they rather concentrated over seeking refuge in heavy drinking and crime so as to fulfill their basic needs. Consequently the rate of criminal activities including theft, rape, homicides etc. increased at an alarming rate. However, in the entire despair and negativities one guy with the name of Jimmy Rabbitte, the leading character in Doyle’s novel formulated a superior option to run away or in other words to face the everyday issues. He was actually infatuated by the Percy Sledge, James Brown and other musicians of that era. Out of his appreciation for all these personalities he organized a band which later transformed in to one of the world’s strongest musical groups (Doyle). Its members were mainly the local residents of Dublin whose aim was to spread positivity in the society. They called their primary motive as teaching an ultimate lesson while focusing on the functionality of soul. With the passage of time the band gained immense success and hence it attracted large number of audience. But soon after attaining recognition among the society ‘The Commitments’ was broke and Jimmy started to perform independently (Doyle). The initial reading of the novel represents that it contains nothing more than conversations between the inhabitants of Dublins especially those belonging to the working class. However, with a detailed investigation in to the themes of the story significant evidences for the hope and betterment of the future can be figured out. These were represented by the communication between characters. All of them were full of desire for excelling in future while competently striving for their positive identity in the world. Although Doyle has given more weightage to the dialogues in his novel but he has successfully conversed the reasons and reflection of people on the collapse of Dublin. The distinctive approach of Benjamin is closely associated with the novel ‘The Commitments’ because both the writers have concentrated upon the urban life style of Germany and Ireland. Although the places are entirely different from one another and the style of expression of both writers is also unique and distinguishable but both of them have presented substantial evidences upon how city dictates its subjectivity. In my reading of Doyle while relating the novel with the writings of Benjamin I can argue that Dublin created its subjects. This can be further substantiated on the basis of the details presented in ‘The Commitments’, for instance, the author states that the inhabitants of Dublin were significantly affected by its poor socioeconomic condition. Moreover, the people were forced to live miserable life which was significantly dominated by crime and alcoholism (Doyle). The same idea is presented by Benjamin who states that the changing surroundings especially in cities impact an individual’s thinking patterns (Benjamin). Another important aspect disclosed by Benjamin in this regard is the response given by youth and children. For instance, consider the leading character of Doyle’s novel, Jimmy Rabbitte, although he was the member of the same community where people were involved in highly unethical and illegal activities while the overall law and order system of the city was collapsed (Doyle). But this young man decided to respond to the situation in a different way. Instead of committing crime he focused on bringing soul back to the city, Dublin. Hence he formed a musical band and utilized all his skills and abilities in this regard. Through a close analysis of Benjamin’s writing one can easily relate the character of Jimmy Rabbitte with the Benjamin’s description of children and youth in the ‘One Way Street’. For example, Jimmy was able to bring positivity in his society which represents the dictating nature of youth explained by Benjamin. This further substantiates the argument that Dublin created its subjects. Doyle has critically formulated all his characters in the novel while focusing more towards the role of youth in the typical conditions when the Irish city, Dublin was undergoing intense political instability. Whenever a particular region faces socioeconomic crisis then the inherent culture of its residents becomes more prominent and obvious because at difficult times people act in their utmost natural ways rather than being pretentious. Even though the story is mainly composed of dialogues rather than the description of each individual and different situations but it has strongly communicated the Dublin’s culture inherited by the local residents. Despite of witnessing the collapse of inner city in addition to the rising unemployment, ethical and social issues accompanied by the political instability, the people in Dublin especially the young generation was having strong hopes for the betterment. Furthermore, they were actively participating in different activities for their successful and prosperous future. All these factors are discussed in the novel with the help of different characters and situations which clearly reflects Doyle’s positive attitude towards Dublin’s culture and the individuality of its inhabitants. Works Cited Benjamin, Walter. One-Way Street and Other Writings . United States: Penguin Modern Classics, 2009. Print. Doyle, Roddy. The Commitments. New York, N.Y: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2013. Print. Read More