Somber, cheerless, regressive; typical personalities of rural Irish. In“Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics”, Nancy Scheper- Hughes, discovered a great amount of revelations. From questioning mental illness to making connections in human behavior, Scheper- Hughes’ discoveries of rural Irish were controversial to say the least. While some of her discoveries were easy to fathom, others such as the similarities in personalities were not. Due to the fact that I was raised in a diverse and industrial society, sharing characteristics with another individual was solely based on chance. Therefore, I did not quite understand how various individuals shared similar personality characteristics. However, after further analysis, I was able to understand
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Scheper- Hughes attempts to explain the reasons why males resort to consuming alcohol. To elaborate, Scheper- Hughes describes “...bachelors are most prone to despondency drinking during the “idle” winter months…” (Scheper- Hughes, 123). As a result of the lack of productivity during winter, most Irish men have difficulty finding things to do. Instead of staying at home, they choose to drink to occupy their lack of productivity. In addition, Scheper- Hughes states “ Among bachelor's, isolated in their lonely stone cottages, heavy drinking is endemic, and these men are largely responsible for the alarming statistic that the Irish are hospitalized twelve times as often as the English for alcoholism (Cooney, 51)” (Scheper- Hughes, 123). Perhaps as a form of repression, local Irish choose to isolate themselves and drink. As hospitalizations of rural Irish males are high, it is evident that the consumption of alcohol is a notable basic personality trait.
The basic personality, of rural Irish consists of shyness, later marriages and heavy consumption of alcohol. As they are all inter-related (in some way or another), Scheper- Hughes aims to describe the similarities of local Irish. Whether it is shyness, loss of social capital that results in late marriage or alcoholism, one can see that the characteristics shared among local Irish are somber, obscure and
Scheper- Hughes attempts to explain the reasons why males resort to consuming alcohol. To elaborate, Scheper- Hughes describes “...bachelors are most prone to despondency drinking during the “idle” winter months…” (Scheper- Hughes, 123). As a result of the lack of productivity during winter, most Irish men have difficulty finding things to do. Instead of staying at home, they choose to drink to occupy their lack of productivity. In addition, Scheper- Hughes states “ Among bachelor's, isolated in their lonely stone cottages, heavy drinking is endemic, and these men are largely responsible for the alarming statistic that the Irish are hospitalized twelve times as often as the English for alcoholism (Cooney, 51)” (Scheper- Hughes, 123). Perhaps as a form of repression, local Irish choose to isolate themselves and drink. As hospitalizations of rural Irish males are high, it is evident that the consumption of alcohol is a notable basic personality trait.
The basic personality, of rural Irish consists of shyness, later marriages and heavy consumption of alcohol. As they are all inter-related (in some way or another), Scheper- Hughes aims to describe the similarities of local Irish. Whether it is shyness, loss of social capital that results in late marriage or alcoholism, one can see that the characteristics shared among local Irish are somber, obscure and