Philadelphia Here I Come!

Philadelphia Here I Come!Friel's plays and stories are very much rooted in the Irish experience. Often set in the fictional village of Ballybeg, they explore social, cultural and political issues particular to the Irish situation, examining how these impact upon individuals and families.While overtly Irish in content, his work also has a more universal appeal, dealing as it does with such themes as love, shattered dreams, authority and the nature of language. An interplay between reality, memory and fantasy, allowing us greater insight into his characters, is common in Friel's work, and he frequently uses comic and other dramatic devices to great effect in this regard.Friel seems to be making a rather harsh comment on Irish society in this play. Ballybeg is filled with people who cannot communicate with one another and whose lives are marked by monotony or delusion or both. This comment seems, however, to extend beyond the particularity of the Irish situation into a reflection on the human condition. Gar's aunt Lizzy has changed her name to "Elise" and has all the trappings of the American dream, but her drinking, like Boyle's, betrays her disillusionment with life. Furthermore, her relationship with her husband, Con, appears thwarted with its own kind of communication problem. She remains ultimately unfulfilled and lonely and, despite appearances, has not succeeded in reinventing herself. It is doubtful that Gar will be any more successful unless he can break the cycle that he has inherited. The final words of both Gar and S. B. - "I don't know" - captures their shared bewilderment and the sad fact that it is precisely this bewilderment that both connects and separates them.
Genre[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]The Flashback Technique
The past is very important in this play. The past is idealized. This idealisation of the past is achieved through flashback. Gar's mind ranges over a period of 25 years. With the thought of departure in less than 24 hours, Gar is forced to review the significant events which influenced his decision to leave Ballybeg.He remembers the interview with Senator Doogan and the visit of Aunt Lizzie. These two incidents are re-enacted on stage with the action of the play shifting from the past to the present. Gar's memory deals with these events in a selective way. He dwells on events that had a strong influence on him.Stream of consciousness
This is another method of bringing past events to bear on the present reality. The use of the internal monologue enables the audience to confront Gar's private thoughts. At times sentences are reduced to fragments. This technique adds to the realistic quality of the drama.Comedy and buffoonery
Gar seeks release from his disappointment in a series of confused fantasies which he acts out in an exaggerated and verbose manner. These fantasies are unreal and adolescent, acted out with intemperate speech and clownish behaviour. He oscillates between anger, exuberance, frustration and abandon. Many of his antics, which express a release of pent-up frustration, border on farce and comic buffoonery.The boys also embody much of the fantasy and role-playing carried out by Private, with their loud talk and bawdy conversation about their exploits.The Two Gars
Through the exchanges between Gar Public and Gar Private, past experiences, present feelings and future fantasies are revealed. This is not a conventional play as the development of the plot occurs in Gar's mind. Physical action is secondary and subordinate to the conflict and turmoil in his inner thoughts. The conflict between the two Gars mirrors the central conflict of the play. This conflict is centered on the emotional loyalty Gar has to his past and his desire to create an identity for himself beyond his past.Reference to Burke's French Revolution
Burke was politically conservative. He had an idealistic view of the French monarchy. He wrote his reflections in order to discredit the radical politics of the French Revolution. He idealized the past and condemned the present. Gar has a glamorous memory of his mother, which acts as a protective mechanism against the reality of his pedantic and unemotional father. Gar possesses a deep attachment to the past, which is shown through a variety of emotions and fantasies.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]
Social Setting[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]Ballybeg is the background of this play. As the name indicates it is a place of narrow horizons and limited possibilities. It is set in 1960s Donegal. The community represented in the play is small, their movement is limited and few possibilities of broadening their horizons exist. The lifestyle is set and predictable.The female characters are also subject to the limitations of this type of society. Kate, Lizzie, Madge and Maire (Gar's mother) are the main female characters. They are controlled by society's conventions. Kate must marry into the right social circles. Even though Lizzie has gone to America, she still feels a failure because she has not been able to have children. Madge is the housekeeper but is more of a mother figure in the O'Donnell household.Religion is represented through the figure of the Canon. It is clear that he is inept and ineffective. Gar satirises his ineptitude when he comes in one evening to play his usual game of cards with S. B., "Sure Canon what interest have you in money? Sure as long as you get to Tenerife for five weeks every winter, what interest have you in money?".The education system is highlighted through Master Boyle. We learn how he is having plenty of confrontations with the school, the priest and the teacher. He is an alcoholic and a failed schoolteacher.Through the figure of the Senator we gain an insight into the privileged ruling class of rural Ireland in the sixties. Senator Doogan is a social snob, who is clearly concerned with fostering the right social connections.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]Plot Summary[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]Philadelphia, Here I Come! centres on a young Irishman, Gar O'Donnell, on the eve of his departure for Philadelphia. Gar is presented to us as two individual characters, played by two different actors, representing his Public and Private selves.Public Gar is the man who is seen and who interacts with the other characters in the play. Private Gar represents Gar's inner thoughts and feelings and he can interact only with Public Gar.As the evening unfolds and through a series of flashbacks, memories and present action, we learn of his conflicting feelings about leaving Ballybeg, which represents for him both that which he detests and that which he loves.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]Themes and Issues[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]Relationships
The theme of relationships is central to the play. There are many different types of relationships shown between the various characters. The central one is that between Gar and his own father S. B. O'Donnell.Gar and his father: Gar is unable to communicate with his father. This is one of the main reasons why he wants to emigrate to Philadelphia. Neither Gar nor his father has come to terms with the past.Madge is the housekeeper and the mediator between both characters. It is through Madge that we learn how Gar's mother died and that S. B. has feelings even though he is not able to articulate them fully, "It must have been near daybreak when he got to sleep last night."We also learn through Madge that Gar and his father are "as like as two peas" and escaping to Philadelphia will not solve any of Gar's problems, "and when he's the age of the boss, he'll turn out just the same. And although I won't be here to see it, you'll find he's learned nothin' in between time."Gar and his father are similar. They are both afraid to express themselves emotionally and are almost embarrassed in one another's company. This is because they are afraid to face their own limitations and acknowledge them. Both characters yearn to be loved and understood and tragically their one attempt in the play backfires.Gar attempts at the conclusion to relive the day when he went fishing with his father as a young boy on Lough na Cloc Cor. However, his father has no recollection of that day. Shortly after this incident we listen to S.B.'s animated reminiscences of the past when he brought Gar to school on his first day in his "wee sailor suit". Both characters find no difficulty in communicating their real needs to Madge.The tragedy of this play is that the conclusion shows no difference in the situation. Gar goes to Philadelphia without coming to terms with the deficiencies in the relationship.Gar and Madge: Madge is a mother figure who understands his real needs. Through her he has learned everything he knows about his mother. She is genuinely sorry he is leaving and shows a strong concern for his welfare, for example we can see how she sacrifices herself in order that he can get a cup of tea on the plane.Gar and Katie Doogan: Katie Doogan is the daughter of the local Senator. Both she and Gar had a relationship when they were younger. Her father, Senator Doogan did not consider Gar's social connections appropriate for his daughter and her marriage to the local doctor was arranged.Gar is struck forcibly with this fact and has never really come to terms with his emotional failure here. This causes Gar great grief. He repeatedly relives scenes between himself and Katie from the past and in doing so satirises the Senator. It is clear that this incident left a "deep scar on the aul skitter of a soul." At one stage in the play Kate comes to say goodbye but he is very aggressive. It is clear that he is hiding his wounded feelings behind a banner of aggression.Personal Failure
Many of the characters in this play embody this theme of personal inadequacy or failure.Gar is the central character and the root of his problems lies in his inability to face the shortcomings of his own life. He decides to go to Ballybeg to attain more freedom from what he sees is a stifling quality of life. In reality, he has not attained sufficient personal maturity to enable him to function well in this society. He blames everything except himself. He has failed in his relationship with Kate Doogan. He was unable to take a clear stance in his interview with the Senator many years ago and so his ego is wounded. He has failed to do anything about the poor communication between his father and himself and instead believes the solution lies in escaping to Philadelphia.Master Boyle is another failure in this parish. An alcoholic and failed poet, he too fails to confront himself fully but escapes through drink and imaginative flights of becoming "head of education in a reputable university" in Boston.The boys too are personal failures. They are unable to deal with the limitations of their life in Ballybeg and so masquerade behind bluster and vulgarities.Even the Canon is shown to be inefficient and inept. His failure is bitterly satirised by Gar on the night he arrives to play cards with. S. B., "because you could translate all this loneliness, this groping, this dreadful buffoonery into Christian terms that will make life bearable for us all. And yet you don't say a word. Why Canon? Why arid Canon? Prudence be damned!".It is clear that Friel presents us with a host of different types of people who in distinct ways embody this theme of personal failure in their lives. Furthermore, they fail in the play to move beyond this level of failure and attain insight into themselves. Tragically the play ends as it starts, with each character at the same level as before.The Theme of Escapist Fantasy
This theme plays a central part in the play. At the root of this escapist fantasy lies a deep-seated dissatisfaction within every character with themselves and their environment.Gar has not attained a sufficient identity for himself in Ballybeg. Pulled towards the future and yet drawn backwards towards a sentimental vision of the past, he seeks to escape by running away to Philadelphia, which represents the solution to all his problems.Ironically, as the play unfolds and we begin to glean insights into his character, we realise that escape will only intensify rather than solve any of his problems. He condemns Ballybeg for the very things which will solve his problems, love, affection, identity and warmth. Gar is no better at the conclusion of the play. Escape to Philadelphia, as Madge tells us, will solve nothing.The boys also indulge in this escapist fantasy. They come to say farewell to Gar on the night before he departs yet they spend their time indulging in monologues about themselves and their imagined exploits. Life in Ballybeg is more bearable when it is relieved by fantasy and escapism. Rather than admit their own inadequacies they hide behind bravado and loud talk.Master Boyle also compensates for his failure as a schoolteacher by dreaming up challenging professional situations in Boston. He tells Gar he has been offered a "big post" in a "reputable university" in Boston. Unable to face the reality of his own alcoholism he hides behind imaginative dreams of another world and unrealistic achievements.

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