The Famine Road by Eavan Boland Flashcards
Identify the first voice in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland
Reading of a letters from Lord Trevelyan to Colonel Jones, and another from Jones to Tervelyan; read before a Relief Committee
Identify the second voice in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland
Doctor to his patient
Give evidence that the committee Identify the first voice in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland view the Irish as lazy
“idle as trout”
Give the quote that shows the relief committee sneering at the purposeless jobs of the Famine road workers in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland
“…to give them roads, roads to force
from nowhere, going nowhere of course”
Give an example of the blissful ignorance of the relief committee in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland
“…I saw bones
Out of my carriage window”
Give an example of how dismissive the doctor was of the woman in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland
“…grow
Your garden, keep house, good-bye”
How are the two narrative voices in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland brought together
At the very end, the woman is seen as as useless as the Famine roads:
“…what is your body
now if not a famine road?”
What are the themes in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland?
○Oppression ○Control ○Womanhood ○History ○Death ○Imperialism
Give examples of alliteration in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland and the impact it has
Harsh alliteration of the letter ‘k’ in “sick”, “fork, stick”, “rock, suck” in stanza three, mirrors the harsh treatment of the workers.
What is the tone in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland?
Detached, unconcerned, blunt, indifferent, emotionless, dismissive
Give examples of repetition in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland and the impact it has
○The double ‘never’ in “you never will, never you know” rings hollow
○Adds to that voice of the doctor that totally lacks any compassion
Give examples of enjambment in The Famine Road by Eavan Boland and the impact it has
○The first line of the fifth stanza ends with a full stop, but all subsequent lines run on until “death rattle”
○The focus here is on disease taking its course and on the inevitability of death
“…after all could…
“…after all could
they not blood their knuckles on rock, suck
April hailstones for water and for food?”
“Dusk:…
“Dusk: they will work tomorrow without him.
They know it and walk clear”
“A typhoid…
“A typhoid pariah, his blood tainted”
