Johnny Sally In Translations Play

In the book Translations, we are introduced to the character Sarah Johnny Sally who lives in this little town called Baile Beag in Ireland during the 19th century. She is between the ages of seventeen and thirty five. She is youthful in appearance but possess age and wisdom in her face. Her life before the play we may presume is the basic farm life and attending the Hedge School. Many people in her town believe she is dumb because she possess a speech defect that impacts her speech , so instead of talking she makes grunts or body movements to communicate and interact with others. Even though, she doesn’t speak or interact with people , Sarah is very aware of her surrounds and the things that is going around her. She is able to watch people , how they act, the way they talk ,
In the play, Sarah’s main purpose is to show the readers the impact the events in the play have on the Irish people. She represents people who don’t have a voice, any power, and are overlooked within their society. Sarah gives us insight on how the lives of the people in Ireland lives get turned upside down when the British invade. Without Sarah, this play wouldn’t be able to show the theme of how when everything you know has been taking from you , you are left to find your identity because it has been taken away with world that you knew. This theme is shown when Captain Lancey; tells the people in the hedge school, “commencing forty-eight hours from now we will embark on a series of evictions and levelling of every abode in the following selected areas...Bun na hAbhann” (80). Not only did this cause people to worry but it gets worse when he points to Sarah and says, “I know you. I know where you live” (81). Brian