Irish Folksongs in A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle

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Irish Folksongs in A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle

Introduction

Music is an integral part of the Irish heritage. Street ballads and folk songs have quite literally become cornerstones of the Irish Identity. With that being said, the "rebel song" tradition is particularly efficient in portraying the themes of bold heroes, of martyrdom brought about the British and for the expressions of patriotism in the troubled Irish lands. What makes the music in A Star Called Henry so special is that it helps in exerting the requirement of social change. The novel travels through the nation's history and the use of music only adds to the description of the political turmoil. The use of music serves the purpose of demonstrating ambiguity and the possibility of negative forces of mythologized past and identity.

The purpose of this paper is to use the Irish Rebel music, repeatedly used throughout the book, and analyze its link to the text and the context of the literature at hand. One must note that the song used in this paper is a conceived song and the full version has not been mentioned. Footnotes, glossaries or endnotes do not provide any relevant information either.

Discussion

The song first appears in the first quarter of the book. Fergus Nash, known to Jack as Henry Smart from Easter Rising, had been in the College of Surgeons. Henry had spent some time there after his term in prison. Jack is the individual that informs Henry that people come up with folk songs about his particular actions during the Easter Rising (Doyle, 2004, pp. 173). Henry first learns of the song a few pages later. Listening to Jack's voice, he praises the singing and Jack acknowledges that he loves to sing outdoors. Listening to the song, Henry is at first resilient. The author does well in describing his resilience with respect to the times of the nation, when anything against the ruling British was not at all tolerated and individuals were either arrested or disappeared. Jack sings a few lines of the song, starting with. “… He fought like a lion with an Irishmen's heart…” At this particular time, Henry indirectly wants Jack to stop singing the words, afraid that the evening might turn against them. It was not before Henry heard the next few lines did he understand that the song was about Henry and not patriotism in general. “… The pride of all Gaels was young Henry Smart…” It was these particular lines that interested Henry into the background of the song (Doyle, 2004, pp. 175).

Henry's first reactions are of flattery. It is not long before he begins asking about the origins of the song. He wants to know who in particular wrote the song. To this, Jack answers, “Who knows? -The people. That where all the real songs come from,” (Doyle, 2004, pp. 175). This marks the beginning of how Henry's self perception begins to change. He is often shown ...