Longing for Home (52 page)
Authors: Sarah M. Eden
Tags: #Romance, #Historical, #General, #Western, #Fiction
When potato blight spread throughout Europe in the 1840s, only in Ireland did the loss of this single crop lead to widespread starvation. The suffering of the Irish, more or less ignored by the government, combined with the abundance of healthy crops shipped out of Ireland to foreign markets, a death toll estimated at over one million, and a desperate exodus of more than a million Irish in the few short years of The Famine made this time in Irish history a rallying cry, one recalled decades later in the uprising of the twentieth century that would eventually lead to Irish independence.
1. How might feelings of resentment toward the indifference of their government, the perception that the Irish, as a people, were not heard by their own government, and the seemingly unreachable goal of freedom have influenced the decision of the Irish fleeing the famine to settle in the United States rather than in other destinations?
2. How might the tenant system in Ireland have influenced the desire of Irish immigrants in the United States to seek out land in the American West?
When the starving and desperate throngs of poor Irish immigrants arrived in the United States, they found themselves in a country unprepared for such an enormous and sudden influx of people. Their sheer numbers (by 1850, more than half the people of Boston’s North End were Irish-born), extreme poverty, lack of resources, and constant new arrivals led to widespread resentment, discrimination, and even hatred.
For the newly arrived Irish, jobs were scarce, housing conditions were often unsanitary and inhumane, and communicable disease claimed lives at alarming rates. The immigrants worked the most menial jobs when they could find them, earning wages that could not possibly lift them from their desperate poverty. The story of the Irish in America during this time was all too often lacking in hope.
3. America had long been seen as the land of opportunity, where a person could overcome hardship and poverty to live a life of comfort. What must it have been like for the Irish immigrants, having just escaped starvation in their homeland, to find waiting for them across the Atlantic harsh conditions and fewer opportunities than they expected?
4. Irish uprisings during the many centuries of British rule were plentiful, though unsuccessful. The Irish viewed their American counterparts as sympathetic comrades who had shared their feeling of being oppressed by a government in which they were not truly represented. No doubt Irish immigrants who arrived during the nineteenth century, having suffered under what they clearly felt was the cold indifference of their government, expected to find empathy and a welcome acceptance among those who had overthrown the very rule they themselves were suffering under. Instead, they felt generally unwanted, unwelcome, and often despised. What kind of responses and feelings must this reception have engendered in the Irish?
5. The United States was a relatively young country at the time of the mass exodus from Ireland. How might the sudden and then constant arrival of so many people in such desperate need have alarmed citizens of the United States?
6. The Irish came in such large numbers that they quickly changed the cultural and ethnic makeup of many Eastern cities. Furthermore, their poverty and their desire to recreate the closeness they had once known in their homeland led them to keep to themselves, creating tight-knit and exclusionary communities. How might this characteristic have further fueled the flames of resentment and prejudice?
7. Desperation, discouragement, and lack of employment and basic necessities led to a great deal of resentment within the Irish slums of cities such as Boston and New York. How might these situations have added to the perception of the Irish as lazy, drunken troublemakers?
8. The American Civil War began fifteen years after the earliest flood of Irish immigrants arrived on American shores. How might the tensions that led to this war have contributed to the challenges the immigrants encountered? How might the presence of Irish immigrants among both Confederate and Union troops have added to the resentment many in the country felt toward them?
The post–Civil War railroad boom in the American West led to a sudden opportunity for employment among the poor and desperate Irish. The work was dangerous, backbreaking, and poorly paid, and many were unwilling to undertake it. The Irish, like immigrants from various Asian countries who settled along the American West Coast, answered the call. This led to a westward movement by many Irish immigrants.
Land was plentiful and inexpensive. The completion of the railroads made supplies easier and cheaper to obtain. Towns began popping up throughout the American West, many with sizable Irish populations.
9. Having lost land in Ireland, land they never held title to and could not have called their own, the promise of land ownership must have been an almost irresistible opportunity to many Irish immigrants. How might the passage of time since their years as farmers in Ireland combined with the drastically different farming conditions of the West have made the adjustment difficult?
10. Many non-Irish Americans also made the move west and, in many instances, brought with them the resentment they felt toward this group of people. What kind of difficulties might that have caused? How might the problems have been avoided?
11. How do the experiences of Irish immigrants during this time parallel those of other immigrant groups throughout history, both in the United States and throughout the world?
12. What can we learn from this era in history about prejudice, poverty, desperation, compassion, and so forth? What could have been done differently—both by the Irish immigrants themselves and by American citizens and their local, state, and federal governments—to have improved the situation?
13. Anti-Irish sentiment is all but unheard of today in the United States. What influence would the following have had on extinguishing the flames of hatred, prejudice, and resentment exhibited toward this particular group?
- The passage of time
- Assimilation into mainstream America by the Irish as accents disappeared among the second generation who adopted more “American” ways of speaking and behaving
- An Irish voice in government, something Americans initially feared
- A growing acceptance of Catholicism, though it was still an issue as recently as the 1960 election of President John F. Kennedy
- Other problems that captured the nation’s attention
- A significant slowing of Irish immigration
- The sheer number of Irish immigrants
About the Author
© Annalisa Photography. Used by permission.
Sarah M. Eden
is the author of several well-received historical romances, including Whitney Award finalists
Seeking Persephone
(2008) and
Courting Miss Lancaster
(2010). Combining her obsession with history and an affinity for tender love stories, Sarah loves crafting witty characters and heartfelt romances. She happily spends hours perusing the reference shelves of her local library and dreams of one day traveling to all the places she reads about. Sarah is represented by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg at Foreword Literary Agency.
Visit Sarah at www.sarahmeden.com
Other Books by Sarah M. Eden
