Nr. 3 (32) anul IX / iulie-septembrie 2011 - ROMDIDAC

to be both itself and its own echo; a sound so alluring and so mesmeric
that the afternoon is bewitched, maybe haunted, by it. And what is so
strange about that memory is that everybody seems to be floating on those
sweet sounds, moving rhythmically, languorously, in complete isolation;
responding more to the mood of the music than to its beat. (Friel 71)
Michael’s retrospective approach symbolizes what Seamus Heaney has
called Friel’s concern with “the laws of love and all their complicated relations
to the operations of memory” (Heaney 231).
Ultimately, the Mundy sisters deconstruct the stereotypical image of the
passive, sentimental, pure Irish woman. As Roche observes, they may be
defined by the things they do not do (86), as a means of opposing conventions
and rules of the society. They do not take Rose to an institution though she has
problems. They do not take Michael to an orphanage though it was a disgrace
to have an illegitimate child in the family. They do not condemn Christina for
her affair though Kate is careful not to have things happen again. Christina
does not marry Gerry and raises her son without a husband. Kate eventually
accepts Jack’s loss of his orthodoxy. They are non-action, however, which
may be regarded as acts of defiance in Ballybeg. Friel’s use of Michael as a
narrator allows the male perspective, yet it invites readers to reconsider the
female approach as well.
In the 1990s, when the play was performed, that generation of Irish women
was trying to challenge all these constitutional and cultural restrictions. Debate
about historical portrayals of women was growing. Women became visible
in Irish politics when Mary Robinson was elected President of the Republic
in 1990. There are other late twentieth-century controversial issues, such as
unwed motherhood and religion, which would shed light on the play. In 1984,
in the “Kerry babies” case, two babies were found murdered in Kerry and in
Longford a young woman dies under a statue of the Virgin in labour from a
concealed pregnancy. “Such cases were widely publicized and imagined in
popular film and literature” (Lojek 87). Friel’s play may suggest an alternative
to the discriminating attitude to unmarried mothers and illegitimate children.
Christina was 19 when her son Michael was born and neither is sent away;
on the contrary, they are surrounded by all the sisters with love. Seeing
Michael, Jack remembers African women and the fact that love-children were
considered a blessing to the household there:
Jack: In Ryanga women are eager to have love-children. The more
love-children you have, the more fortunate your household is thought to
be. Have you other love-children
Kate: She certainly has not, Jack; and strange as it may seem to you,
neither has Agnes nor Rose nor Maggie nor myself. No harm to Ryanga
but you’re home in Donegal now and much as we cherish love-children
here they are not exactly the norm. (Friel 41)
Moreover, he mentions the Ryangans’ belief in Obi, the Great Goddess
of the Earth, to whom they bring sacrifices “so that the crops will flourish. Or
maybe to get in touch with our departed fathers for their advice and wisdom”
(Friel 47). The references to African customs and traditions are meant to create
an imaginary culture in contrast with the rigidity of the Irish culture.
Ex Ponto nr. 3, 2011
179