ABSTRACT
Cultural transition is one of the most common subjects dealt in literature. It is not always depicted explicitly and so in order to locate them discourse needs special reading. Through such a reading, from a certain point of view, we find John Millington Synge showing peasant culture fractured by modernity. In his one act play, Riders to the Sea, J. M. Synge presents us a folk culture in transition, for the play deals not only with deaths or grief about the losses but also with the conflict between two poles of belief: traditional and modern. In its characters we find the marks of transition. Riders to the Sea, in this viewpoint, is much more than a naive tale about a group of noble primitives. It is an account of a cultural transition from folk to …show more content…
Anthropologists tell us that groups in transition inevitably experience shifts in philosophy, custom, and physical orientation. Transitional communities are not homogeneous; rather, their members are found at every point along the cultural continuum. The traditional members manifest certainty about their own worldview, a reverence for custom, and an awareness of the radical limitations of the material world. The modern members of the group are philosophically relativistic, are willing to alter the old ways, and think of themselves as part of the world rather than part of an island in the world. Those caught in the middle, the "transitionals," are almost schizophrenic: drawn in opposite directions by forces of great power, they are culturally double-bound. In Riders to the Sea, Synge presents us with a virtual textbook case of a folk culture in transition, for the play deals not only with Maurya's grief about the loss of her sons but also with the conflict between two worldviews: hers and that of the "big world." Through close observation of the characters-The Priest, Bartley, Nora and Cathleen-we will locate their culture in transition that is apparent in their
Cultural transition is one of the most common subjects dealt in literature. It is not always depicted explicitly and so in order to locate them discourse needs special reading. Through such a reading, from a certain point of view, we find John Millington Synge showing peasant culture fractured by modernity. In his one act play, Riders to the Sea, J. M. Synge presents us a folk culture in transition, for the play deals not only with deaths or grief about the losses but also with the conflict between two poles of belief: traditional and modern. In its characters we find the marks of transition. Riders to the Sea, in this viewpoint, is much more than a naive tale about a group of noble primitives. It is an account of a cultural transition from folk to …show more content…
Anthropologists tell us that groups in transition inevitably experience shifts in philosophy, custom, and physical orientation. Transitional communities are not homogeneous; rather, their members are found at every point along the cultural continuum. The traditional members manifest certainty about their own worldview, a reverence for custom, and an awareness of the radical limitations of the material world. The modern members of the group are philosophically relativistic, are willing to alter the old ways, and think of themselves as part of the world rather than part of an island in the world. Those caught in the middle, the "transitionals," are almost schizophrenic: drawn in opposite directions by forces of great power, they are culturally double-bound. In Riders to the Sea, Synge presents us with a virtual textbook case of a folk culture in transition, for the play deals not only with Maurya's grief about the loss of her sons but also with the conflict between two worldviews: hers and that of the "big world." Through close observation of the characters-The Priest, Bartley, Nora and Cathleen-we will locate their culture in transition that is apparent in their