ABSTRACT
Domestic abuse is a theme to which many Irish-language writers have drawn attention in recent years. This article is an in-depth analysis of one of the most powerful Irish-language works that deals with this theme, namely Máire Dinny Wren’s short story ‘An doras cúng’ (2016). The article applies research from the social sciences to assess Wren’s depiction of various aspects of domestic abuse, and examines the most important literary devices used by the author. It demonstrates that ‘An doras cúng’ is a nuanced and highly effective story that gives a keen insight into the myriad challenges faced by victims of domestic abuse.
At the beginning of this article, questions of terminology which relate to domestic abuse are considered. Particular attention is given to the challenges faced by Irish-language scholars who seek to accurately describe domestic abuse. This discussion provides context for the analysis of ‘An doras cúng’. That analysis draws on research on post-traumatic stress disorder, coercive control and the attitudes of abuse victims in order to shed light on the story’s protagonist. The importance of symbolism and metaphor in the story is also assessed, through an examination of the various locations in which the story is set. Finally, the narrative style of ‘An doras cúng’ is considered in the context of a concept which Ernest Hemingway termed ‘the principle of the iceberg’. The article claims that Wren’s short story is an exemplar of this principle, and that this element of the story adds greatly to its depiction of domestic abuse.
Please note
COMHARTaighde is an open access, peer-reviewed scholarly journal in the field of Irish language and literature studies. The full text of the article described on this page is available in the Irish language only. English-language translations of article titles, abstracts and certain metadata are provided in order to enable international scholars to discover research published in COMHARTaighde and to facilitate the indexing of articles in certain academic databases.
