Introduction

Construction of Identity in Northern Irish Novels 235
designates her inbetween state. Cate likes the London life and would not miss it;
still she clings to certain family traditions as well as the Catholic faith.
Caldwell’s solution for the “New Irish” lies in Saoirse’s heritage. With her
mother a Catholic from the South and her father a Protestant RUC officer she
unites Northern Ireland’s problematic past. Her name is also of significance as it
means “freedom” (Caldwell 211). Both her name and her family tradition thus
evoke the assumption that only a reconciliation between Catholic and Protestant
beliefs and the mutual acceptance of both can lead to freedom and peace. Saoirse
stands for all that Northern Ireland consists of: the conflict between her parents
when she was still a child – a conflict between Catholic and Protestant, between
Civil Rights marcher and RUC man – the pain of lost relatives and friends. This
becomes also evident in her half Irish, half Scottish/English name, Saoirse Pentland.
She combines two identities in one and in the end accepts her lot: “All my
life here I’ve wanted so badly to be the same. But now, I’m kind of proud to be an
Ulster Pentland as well as an O’Conor from the Gaeltacht” (Caldwell 214). As she
unites these two characteristics in one personality she is not afraid to go to the
North, either. Asked if she was not scared to go there she just says: “I can’t be
scared […] I’m half from there. I can’t be scared” (Caldwell 215).
Further studies of contemporary Northern Irish literature also include how
theories of multiculturalism and citizenship are incorporated in the new developments.
While citizenship for a long time had been seen standing in context of
nationality this has changed recently. ”New conceptions and practices of citizenship
point to something considerably more differentiated and multifaceted than
nationality,” explains Gerard Delanty (183). Thus globalisation has been a decisive
factor for widening the political community into a more cosmopolitan community
in which “the nation-state is no longer the primary reference for loyalties, identities
and democracy” (Delanty 184). Delanty here stresses a pluralised nation that is
welcoming “new imaginaries about belonging, community and identity” (ibid.
184). He mentions several fields that have been studied among others by Lurry,
Stevenson, Parekh, and Touraine, in which it becomes clear how modernisations
have exceeded the nation-state. Civic and social rights, for instance, are regulated
by the place of residence and not by birth. Nationality here is not decisive for
one’s exertion of rights. Secondly, progress in technology (communication, natural
sciences, and military) dispense the individual from the state because they are
addressing the population itself, not the state. Furthermore, cultural rights are
gaining importance over individual rights. Instead of equality as a primary aim the
upholding of group differences is now a decisive factor of citizenship (as the cultural
diversity programme well shows). Finally, the separation of public and private
life is outdated (ibid. 186ff). Thus “citizenship is increasingly about the right
to express one’s identity, as in for example gay marriages [or] rights for disabled
people” (ibid. 188). Deirde Madden and Robert McLiam Wilson also feature homosexual
love relationships in their novels. Helen’s best friend David is gay and