Introduction

Construction of Identity in Northern Irish Novels 203
ing about the many different communities there are existing and the perception of
pastiche personalities, this paper mainly refers to the two largest groups of Catholics
and Protestants for reasons of simplicity and to make things graspable. Nevertheless,
sub-groups such as nationalists or Irish speakers are considered as well as
they appear throughout the examined novels.
2.3. On National Consciousness
“The language spoken by somebody and his or her identity as a speaker of this
language are inseparable: This is surely a piece of knowledge as old as human
speech itself. Language acts are acts of identity” (Tabouret-Keller 315), asserts
Andrée Tabouret-Keller. This statement surely seems to make sense, especially if
one thinks of oneself and the languages one speaks. Most people have one mother
tongue and are able to speak one or more second languages. Usually the language
acquired during childhood is the language with which a person identifies the most.
Furthermore, this is also commonly the same language relatives, friends, acquaintances
and neighbours speak. Language thus connects a person to the people
around him/herself and therefore creates a certain feeling of community. If one
remembers the families who tried to reinstall an Irish language community in Belfast
one also sees how important even a once lost language can become for one’s
cultural background and identity.
Tabouret-Keller’s argument continues as follows: “The link between language
and identity is often so strong that a single feature of language use suffices to
identify someone’s membership in a given group” (317). This can both happen in
positive and in negative ways. Born in Belfast Saoirse Pentland, the narrator in
Lucy Caldwell’s Where They Were Missed, is living in the Republic of Ireland where
she is learning Irish at school. Although she is receiving very good marks and is
one of the best Irish speakers in class she time and again has to experience that
she is actually an outsider because everybody knows she is from the North. Talking
about a new girl in class she says:
It doesn’t seem to matter that I’ve lived here for nearly ten years; it doesn’t
seem to matter that I’m almost always top of the class in Irish, or that I go
to Mass just like the rest of them; none of it matters, because when it
comes down to it, even after a couple of months – a matter of weeks, really
– Clodagh Mulcahy is less of an outsider than I’ll ever be (Caldwell 116).
No matter how hard Saoirse tries, in the south of Ireland she will always be perceived
as a member of another community although she has Irish roots as well.
Nevertheless her aunt and uncle seem to be especially proud of her good marks in
Irish. This is stressed when Saoirse tells her uncle she came second in an Irish test
she took: “You did? He beams. That’s my girl, ey” (ibid. 90). Other school subjects
do not seem as important as the Irish lessons. Saoirse is in a conflict here.