The Irish tend to view people moralistically: good or bad,strong or weak, villain or victim (McGoldrick, 323). Irish families oftenlabel children by their behavior and role in the family. The position of theparents is one of extreme superordination, that if the children of extremesubordination (Arsenberg and Kimball, 59). Children are rarely praised bytheir parents and are often punished through ridiculing, belittling, andshaming. Because of the lack of closeness between the parents, the closestaxis in the Irish family is the mother-son tie (McGoldrick, 324). A mother shighest hopes would be for her brightest son to enter priesthood to save hissoul and get an education. Most of
the time, the bond betweenmother and son is so strong that Irish sons have a compulsion to please theirmothers in order to get affection. It is very difficult for Irish families toget along because of tension and anger that builds up over time without resolution.As children grow older, they have a more independent, active view ofthemselves.
The Irish-American has a strong background in arts andliterature. Irish music is loved the world over, and has influenced a gooddeal of the folk and country-western strains of American music (MicrosoftExpedia.com). The harp is a national symbol of Ireland, and was the instrumentof choice for bards who traveled the Irish countryside reciting poetry andlyrics to music in the great houses. The most familiar Irish music consists ofdancing tunes for reels, jigs, hornpipes, polkas, and waltzes. The Irish have avery deep respect for literature. The Irish of the past honored their poets assoothsayers and sages; in more recent years, they founded the Gaelic League topreserve and promote Irish language and culture. Among the best-known Irishwriters who were quite at home in London to make a fortune were poet andsatirist, Jonathan Swift, playwrights William Cosgreve, Richard BrinsleySheridan, Oscar Wilde, and the poet and essayist Oliver Goldsmith (MicrosoftExpedia.com). Some of the best 20th-century influential writers have been ofIrish descent, playwright George Bernard Shaw, novelist James Joyce, and poetsW.B. Yeats.
Conclusion
There are many different societies throughout the world. Each culture isinteresting and important to the people that abide by its norms and mores. Inorder to understand how a culture works, all of the society s history must betaken into effect. It takes years upon years to create a culture that is asrich and fascinating as the Irish-American culture. Even though the societybegan in a different land than the one they now call their own, it is importantto take into account everything that happened to a group of people to be ableto fully understand them. As the Irish became Americans, they did not losetheir heritage. They only became more exciting and significant.
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