Contemporary Irish Women Writers

Paper Summary:

This paper explores how how two contemporary Irish female writers, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne and Mary Dorcey, in two structurally and stylistically different short stories, "Midwife to the Fairies" and "The Husband" (respectively), challenge the Irish sensibilities regarding the continued subjugation of women and repression of female sexuality through ignorance and intolerance. The paper then discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and proposes which is more effective, critically.

From the Paper:

"Her self-centeredness, however, is far outweighed by her passivity in the face of a crisis and a tragedy waiting to happen. She first is shown to be passive in her decision to become a midwife: "My mother did it before me and her mother before her" (33). Mary shows herself to do what is traditional to do--she doesn't challenge the status quo. But her passivity has more grievous consequences when she chooses not to act and save a baby girl after delivering her into bleak circumstances."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Abrams, M.H.. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 8th. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.
• De Salvo, Louise et al. (eds) Territories of the Voice: Contemporary Stories by Irish Women Writers. London: Virago, 1990. (xii-xiii, xix, xx-xxi)
• Dorcey, Mary. "The Husband", Evelyn Conlon & Hans-Christian Oeser (eds.) Cutting the Night in Two: Short Stories by Irish Women Writers. Dublin: New Island, 2002. (224-240)
• Ni Dhuibhne, Eilis. "Midwife to the Fairies", Louise De Salvo, Kathleen Walsh D'Arcy & Katherine Hogan (eds.) Territories of the Voice: Contemporary Stories by Irish Women Writers. London: Virago, 1990. (31-38)
• Tremblay, Reeta Chowdhari, Andre Lecours, Csaba Nikolenyi, Bassel Salloukh and Francesca Scala. Mapping the Political Landscape: An Introduction to Political Science. Toronto: Thomson Nelson, 2004.

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