{"id":137,"date":"2020-02-14T18:59:13","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T22:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/?p=137"},"modified":"2020-03-29T23:05:05","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T03:05:05","slug":"when-language-fails-what-are-we-left-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/2020\/02\/14\/when-language-fails-what-are-we-left-with\/","title":{"rendered":"When Language Fails, What Are We Left With?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The idea of language failing to effectively communicate one\u2019s feelings and experiences is something that fascinates me. As an English major, the idea that words can fail should seem unfathomable. Yet, being unable to articulate a feeling or traumatic experience is something that is a reality to those such as the Irish, who struggle with how to explain their sense of self. This week, in relation to both the Douglass and McCann pieces, we talked a lot about the referencing of the \u201cother\u201d group when trying to explain one\u2019s own experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, I want to address the way in which the word \u201cslave\u201d or \u201cslavery\u201d is used in connection to the experiences of both the Blacks and the Irish. The Irish and Blacks are two groups of people being told, \u201cYou are this.\u201d\u00a0 In the quest for liberty from these labels, they must ask, \u201cIf I\u2019m not what they have been saying I am, who am I?\u201d In the case of the Irish, as we discussed earlier in the semester, the Irish were referred to as white n******. This connection to the Blacks was ingrained into the ways that they viewed themselves. Perhaps this is where the Irish\u2019s feelings and metaphors of being a \u201cwage\u201d slave or like a slave stems from.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Douglass\u2019s My Bondage and My Freedom<\/em><\/a>, he writes about how the Irish\u2019s use of \u201cslave\u201d is an unfair comparison that shouldn’t be drawn (Douglass). McCann\u2019s <\/span>TransAtlantic<\/span><\/i><\/a>, however, is not as outright in his condemnation. One gets the sense that McCann\u2019s Douglass is uneasy with the shared use of the terms, but he is not as confrontational about it as the real Douglass was in his piece. <\/span>Both the Irish and Blacks underwent awful oppression but their circumstances were far from the same. The Irish are poor and hungry, but they are free and can grow food. The Irish Americans were also not oppressed in the same manner as the Blacks and are given chances to be the oppressor in America. The Blacks, however, were always the oppressed and never the oppressor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While perhaps not accurate, I do not think that this adoption or comparison is ill-intentioned. I do not think that the language itself is malicious, but the mindset behind it can become problematic. Phrases such as the \u201cBlack O\u2019Connell\u201d take away from Douglass\u2019 own merits and individual identity. He can\u2019t just be Douglass because of his race, even in Ireland. All of this is a very important discussion, as Prof. Kinyon pointed out, remains a very relevant topic even in today\u2019s political sphere, where it unfortunately remains a problem. This raises even further questions: If words fail people, such as the Irish, who just want their experiences and flights to be recognized, what do we do? Do we forgive their missteps in language? What can we do to correct them? Certainly, there are no clear cut answers to these questions, but they are ones that individuals and society must consider as we move forward in history. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The idea of language failing to effectively communicate one\u2019s feelings and experiences is something that fascinates me. As an English major, the idea that words can fail should seem unfathomable. Yet, being unable to articulate a feeling or traumatic experience is something that is a reality to those such as the Irish, who struggle with … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “When Language Fails, What Are We Left With?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3685,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[413716,413938,412737],"tags":[412288,411613,8878,14830,12687,412012,249780,412502,411243,369923,412737],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-becoming-white","category-placelessness","category-transatlantic","tag-connections","tag-douglass","tag-identity","tag-irish","tag-language","tag-oconnell","tag-oppression","tag-questioning","tag-slave","tag-slavery","tag-transatlantic","post_format-post-format-link"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3685"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}