The Dead Imperialism

The Dead by James Joyce is a short story of a nephew named Gabriel Conroy attending a party that his aunts are hosting. Through the night he is faced with confrontational and questions that attack his identity. As he goes about offending people by accident he then meets Miss. ivors. She attacks him by calling him out on being a “West Briton” someone that denies their Irish nationality. As Miss continues to ask him a question after another, Gabriel explodes by saying “ O, to tell you the truth...I’m sick of my own country “(Joyce 2180). That was his response after being asked of he would pay a visit to Ireland, his homeland. But throughout the text it is clear he would rather go to Belgium or france or germany for a cycling tour. Even though
Since he never told anyone about his job it tells us that he is aware that his role in the West Britain paper does raise some questions and complications (2181).
Translations by Brian Friel is a play that introduces us to the process of linguistic colonization between the Irish vs the English, we get to see how language is used as a tool for political dominance instead of violence or imprisonment. Friel shows us how by having control over a language is a way to have power over the people that speak it. We are first presented to two brothers, Manus and Owen. Manus, the elder one, is loyal to both his father and his country as he is an apprentice at a school. While Owen decides to be the “go between” (Friel) meaning a translator for the British army and his local community. He helps interpret the re-mapping of Ireland by changing the Gaelic names to English. Owen helps the reader see the gap between both these cultures and the power of language. It is through Owen's character that we see the correlation between language and identity. In the beginning of the play Owen only sees language as a set of words: “Owen: easy, man, easy. Owen- Roland what the hell It’s only a name. It’s the same me, isnt it? Well Isn’t it”
For starters they are both working for the British and are very fond of their position. As they both go about talking to their relatives we get the impression that they feel superior from everyone else. Gabriel for example when he first arrives to the party he is asked by Lily, the caretaker's daughter, “Is it snowing again, Mr. Conroy?” Gabriel then smiles at the three syllables” (Joyce 73). It is important to note that both Lily and gabriel are Irish and both have an Irish accent. Although it seems that Lily's is a bit stronger and Gabriel acts as if he she was different from him. throughout the party we hear his subconscious debating what to say to his family in order to not offend them for example: When he was talking to his two aunts he would try to say things that were to “intelligent” so they could both understand.Also, with the confrontational conversation that he had with Miss. Ivors of whether or not he was a West Briton got heated really quickly. That it led for Miss. Ivors to leave the party without knowing why or where. While Owen would directly tell his Brother and Father to speak English and to join the new Hedge school so they can start working for the British. The way Gabriel and Owen differ is that Gabriel is full of anxiety and doesn't want to offend those around him, while Owen doesn't mind and just says