Francie Brady’s Alienation and Separation from Society
By close analysis of the extract, taking account of narrative methods, show how effective you think McCabe is in presenting the outsider Francie Brady’s alienation and separation from society.
In ‘The Butcher Boy’ Patrick McCabe transforms, according to John O’Mahony, “the microcosm of the small town, a neglected and disparaged corner of Irish experience into an arena for burlesque humour and biting satire.” “McCabe is a true original,” says critic and novelist John Banville. “Like Roddy Doyle writing about life in working-class Dublin suburbs, McCabe has used the stuff the rest of us didn’t bother with and made a peculiar kind of rough poetry out of it. He catches that particular kind of bizarre, insane world of Irish country life in the 50’s and 60’s. People like O’Faolain and Frank O’Connor wrote about it in lyrical mode, McGahern wrote about it in tragic mode, but McCabe writes about it in a kind of anti- black comedy that is absolutely unique.” Such aspects of McCabe’s unique style are vividly captured within the given extract from the novel, where McCabe’s unique hybrid bog-gothic style is clearly evident.
The theme of Francie Brady’s alienation and separation from society is a dominant concept that develops and intensifies throughout the novel. Alienation refers to the sense of being separated and isolated from others, of not belonging, and in the specified extract McCabe successfully develops the reader’s understanding of Francie as an outsider in a society neither accepts nor understands him due to his inherent since of difference. McCabe presents the alienation of the protagonist Francie Brady as socially, physically and emotionally alone and insecure, using the situation of Francie finding that his best friend Joe was away at boarding school, followed by the encounter with Mrs Connolly to enhance the reader’s response to Francie as an alienated and unwanted outsider. This extract I an excerpt from the latter section of the novel where McCabe
In ‘The Butcher Boy’ Patrick McCabe transforms, according to John O’Mahony, “the microcosm of the small town, a neglected and disparaged corner of Irish experience into an arena for burlesque humour and biting satire.” “McCabe is a true original,” says critic and novelist John Banville. “Like Roddy Doyle writing about life in working-class Dublin suburbs, McCabe has used the stuff the rest of us didn’t bother with and made a peculiar kind of rough poetry out of it. He catches that particular kind of bizarre, insane world of Irish country life in the 50’s and 60’s. People like O’Faolain and Frank O’Connor wrote about it in lyrical mode, McGahern wrote about it in tragic mode, but McCabe writes about it in a kind of anti- black comedy that is absolutely unique.” Such aspects of McCabe’s unique style are vividly captured within the given extract from the novel, where McCabe’s unique hybrid bog-gothic style is clearly evident.
The theme of Francie Brady’s alienation and separation from society is a dominant concept that develops and intensifies throughout the novel. Alienation refers to the sense of being separated and isolated from others, of not belonging, and in the specified extract McCabe successfully develops the reader’s understanding of Francie as an outsider in a society neither accepts nor understands him due to his inherent since of difference. McCabe presents the alienation of the protagonist Francie Brady as socially, physically and emotionally alone and insecure, using the situation of Francie finding that his best friend Joe was away at boarding school, followed by the encounter with Mrs Connolly to enhance the reader’s response to Francie as an alienated and unwanted outsider. This extract I an excerpt from the latter section of the novel where McCabe