Safia Abidi
Modern Irish Literature
02.16.97
Report on Related Reading

Title: The Run of the Country
Author: Shane Connaughton
Date of Publication: 1991
Quantity read: all

When I was perusing through the books on the table, I had noticed that this particular book was made into a movie. Thus, being the sensible and practical person that I am, I thought that if I missed something of vital importance to the plot, I would catch it the second time around. Also it looked vaguely interesting in that the cover seemed to convey the point that the plot was not war-related, or did not involve any fighting of any sort--which, of course, I abhor. It also seemed, just by leafing through the pages of the book, that the amount of profanity contained in the book was minimal. Also the dialect appeared to be easy to manage. Incidentally, I never did get around to watching the movie.

Unfortunately, this book has a lot to do with sex. A fellow whose name is never mentioned in the text finds himself in an identity crisis. He tries, to no avail, to avoid becoming like his father. He can stand his life at home when he isn't at school only because he likes the company of his mother. She fascinates him. He loves everything about her, besides the fact that she stays with his father, who he thinks is unworthy of her. He longs for a time where he can love a woman, and is thus sexually frustrated, especially when he is rejected by a proud, church-going female. The only female that he is able to communicate with without feeling amorous towards is an elderly, unbecoming woman who suggests that he leave his prison of a life. This fascination with sex is probably partly due to his hatred for his father and his sometimes rough sexual advances towards his mother. He thinks of his mother as a pure object, and his father as poison which spoils it. Matters are made worse when his mother dies, and he attributes her death to his father. Was it not his father who attacked him and his mother who rushed to his protection? And because of this, did she not die?

He is forced to stay with his father for an additional term after his mother dies. Being unable to stand his father's continued harshness and his unwillingness to share his emotions, he leaves and decides to run away. He experiences freedom with his older "friend" as he calls him--but really he is an aquaintence. He is soon thrown in jail though, accused of impregnating a girl he met at a dance house. He soon meets a girl by the name of Annaugh Lee, he begins to desire her company, and soon they are together. Knowing that her mother would not approve, she pursues the relationship anyway. He is unsure of the future of their relationship. He knows that he wants to be with her, he just doesn't want to marry her--scared of the possible metamorphosis into his father.

Annaugh soon discovers that she is pregnant, and her mother and various other relatives become furious, shunning him and forbidding him to ever see her again. He is scared. He never wanted to rush himself into a family. The one question haunted his thoughts again: "What if I become like my father?" He soon accepts the present (as opposed to the future), and Annaugh leaves her home to join him at ________'s. They make preparations to stay together and leave their town. During the night, though, a rat attacks Annaugh in bed. She becomes so afraid that she has a miscarriage. The rat saved them (separately, not together). She is now able to go home.

Later, he begins to miss her, but knows that he will not be able to see her. He returns to the place where they first had intimate physical contact and soon discovers that he is at a loss. All the women in his life have left him: first his mother, then __'s mother, and now Annaugh. There, he is tarred and feathered, by Annaugh's relatives.

He is again put into jail for his protection. He has lost everything that was important to him. He only has his father now.

The main character obviously has a deep hatred for his father. He blames everything on him... The death of his mother, his inability to be natural, et cetera. Really, the only concept question that I see presented is this one. I guess that you could say that his mother died for him, corresponding to the second concept question: what would you die for? Presumably this could also be interpreted as: did his/her death help matters any? i.e. was it for some higher purpose? If this is the case, then it appears that the embryo Annaugh was carrying did die for a purpose--maybe because (s)he was never supposed to exist.

Though ths book was a might bland, and devoid of any interesting parts, and sometimes downright gruesome, I guess Connaughton wanted to illustrate the difficulties that surrounded the young lad amongst the difficulties that surrounded (and still does) Ireland. This book really has not made me appreciate modern Irish literature any more than I did previous. The reasons are mentioned in the last section.

No. I don't think that this book really has any literary value whatsoever. It is occasionally hard to follow, the plot is sketchy, and the characters are not worthwhile. The only development that we really see is occasionally in the father--where we see him finally exposing his emotions, whereas the main character is a pathetic, despicable excuse for a person, caught in his self-created web of confusion.