In, “Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics” by Nancy Schephur-Hughes, the typical personality of an Irish person is one of fear and mistrust. They are also, “intensely familistic and tightly endogamous”. Schizophrenia is also very common. They especially do not trust outsiders and are very influenced by their past, holy geography, and their language which they regard as sacred tongue. According to the author, these main type of personality traits arise from the decline in culture of rural Irish people and their culture.
Tales in the Irish culture reflect the fear many of the Irish people feel. For example, the author describes the tale of an evil body of water, a small lake called, “Loch Geal” which is believed to hold a demon serpent that holds an evil curse. The tale says that a midwife, on her way down an inaccessible cliff, slipped and fell in the water. Because she never made it to the women who was about to give birth, both the mother and the child died. The body of the midwife was never recovered and a fear of a curse grew which caused the remaining habitants to leave their homes.
Irish people from Ballyran share the same view as any isolated society in the mountains. Unlike the Castlederry Irish, they prefer to marry within their own social group. They also prefer to keep from themselves and are not fond of outsiders. In fact, strangers or outsiders are so mistrusted, bachelors would prefer not to marry or instead marry their second cousin before marrying an outsider or stranger. The author also mentions Nellie, a woman who was one of the matriarchs of the village. However, her personality at ninety-two years old is one of a shut-in. Over the years, the Ballyran population size has been greatly reduced to a few hundred members. Because of the scarcity of people, the tradition of living off the farm is dying. Familism is also being disintegrated because people wait too long to get married and end up not having children or they move away. A villager express, “I am anxious in my mind, turning it around and around, alone here in my house two weeks since my wife is dead. Cait, my daughter, has left me gone aboard ship to America with a big crowd from Dingle.” These factors contribute to the decline in their culture which causes people to manifest this through their personalities. It has become very common that rural Irish people show symptoms of mental illness and schizophrenia. Furthermore, the decline of the rural Irish culture has resulted in …show more content…
Only men were used in this test and the results show a common theme. They were showed a card of a boy with a violin in front of him. Many of the men, both average and hospitalized, suggested that perhaps the boy was looking at his violin in a sad manner because it was broken or out of tune. Another boy describes that the boy in the card has a broken violin and that he does not know what to do except look at it with disgust. Many of them suggested that there was some sort of issue with the violin. Hughes suggest that the test reveals how Irish men feel about their own life and work. They incorporated their own feelings when they described the boy and his violin on the
Tales in the Irish culture reflect the fear many of the Irish people feel. For example, the author describes the tale of an evil body of water, a small lake called, “Loch Geal” which is believed to hold a demon serpent that holds an evil curse. The tale says that a midwife, on her way down an inaccessible cliff, slipped and fell in the water. Because she never made it to the women who was about to give birth, both the mother and the child died. The body of the midwife was never recovered and a fear of a curse grew which caused the remaining habitants to leave their homes.
Irish people from Ballyran share the same view as any isolated society in the mountains. Unlike the Castlederry Irish, they prefer to marry within their own social group. They also prefer to keep from themselves and are not fond of outsiders. In fact, strangers or outsiders are so mistrusted, bachelors would prefer not to marry or instead marry their second cousin before marrying an outsider or stranger. The author also mentions Nellie, a woman who was one of the matriarchs of the village. However, her personality at ninety-two years old is one of a shut-in. Over the years, the Ballyran population size has been greatly reduced to a few hundred members. Because of the scarcity of people, the tradition of living off the farm is dying. Familism is also being disintegrated because people wait too long to get married and end up not having children or they move away. A villager express, “I am anxious in my mind, turning it around and around, alone here in my house two weeks since my wife is dead. Cait, my daughter, has left me gone aboard ship to America with a big crowd from Dingle.” These factors contribute to the decline in their culture which causes people to manifest this through their personalities. It has become very common that rural Irish people show symptoms of mental illness and schizophrenia. Furthermore, the decline of the rural Irish culture has resulted in …show more content…
Only men were used in this test and the results show a common theme. They were showed a card of a boy with a violin in front of him. Many of the men, both average and hospitalized, suggested that perhaps the boy was looking at his violin in a sad manner because it was broken or out of tune. Another boy describes that the boy in the card has a broken violin and that he does not know what to do except look at it with disgust. Many of them suggested that there was some sort of issue with the violin. Hughes suggest that the test reveals how Irish men feel about their own life and work. They incorporated their own feelings when they described the boy and his violin on the