Introduction

Construction of Identity in Northern Irish Novels 207
from the communal Northern Irish world and is able to see the old conflict from
a different perspective.
The language aspect raised here shows a connection between the usage of
Irish and the nationalist topics raised within the poetry. It also proves Anderson’s
argument that communities are united by the same language. Those in Eureka
Street who share an Irish identity and (unlike Jake) want to express it, feel they
belong together when listening to Irish poetry. Although many people are not able
to understand it the printed aspect of this old cultural marker – namely the Gaelic
language – confirms this particular Irish community in their identity. Nevertheless,
it also demonstrates Anderson’s point that certain vernacular languages in the past
became superior to others, in this case English.
It is important to note, however, that Irish generally is more of a symbol to artificially
uphold an Irish identity. In everyday life English is the tool to communicate
for most people. “Any influence from Irish almost certainly derives from
historical, rather than contemporary, contact between the two languages,” observes
Alison Henry (7). When speaking English, all Belfastians use the same dialect
and it cannot be told to which ethnic community the speaker belongs. “Although
Belfast is known to be in many ways a divided society, with often little
contact between the Protestant and Catholic communities, Belfast English is not
distinguished, either phonologically or grammatically, along religious lines” (ibid.
8). If any difference occurs at all it is between classes (working and middle-class)
or generations (older and younger speakers) (ibid. 8). So, even if there is hardly
anything those two communities share, they are united by a common dialect of
English, one that is different from the English spoken in Britain or elsewhere. At
the same time this form of dialect is considered showing “a lack of education”,
and in working life standard English is to be preferred (ibid. 8). When Saoirse is in
the south of Ireland, shortly after having left the North, the cleaning lady of the
school asks her where she is from due to her “funny accent” (Caldwell 138). The
feature of the dialect’s bad reputation is also expressed by Chuckie although he
uses the same dialect as everybody else: “Chuckie was ashamed of the way his
fellow citizens spoke. The accents of his city appalled him […] He longed for
elocutionary elegance” (McLiam Wilson 36ff). On another level this could also
mean that Chuckie does not agree with the situation in Belfast. Although people
try to make opposing political stands it all amounts to the same ‘language’, the
language of sectarianism. Chuckie in contrast like Jake expects something better to
come, still he himself at the beginning is not much different from everybody else.
Considering Anderson’s community theory and definitions of identity it thus
can be seen that Northern Ireland indeed incorporates two ‘nations’. Although the
whole population belongs to the English-speaking community some people –
mostly Catholics – have also referred back to traditional Irish community facets
such as the Irish language in order to define an identity. Obviously, identity is not