How cultural encounters are manifested in literary works, specifically short stories from An Anthology of Short Stories from Five Continents, with particular reference to “The Distant Past” by William Trevor
Introduction
Cultural encounters have occurred throughout history in the entire universal setting. They mainly incorporate associations and relations of different kinds which might either be peaceful or aggressive among individuals from differing backgrounds (Brazier, 2009). The concept of cultural encounter is applied to describe social associations, places as well as things. In other words, these are the affairs of individuals in accordance with the set social norms. With respect to the ‘’The Distant Past’’ authored by William Trevor this concept is mainly utilized to describe the contemporary phenomenon as related to the significance of migration and religious appeal. The story is mainly set within the 50s and 60s in Ireland where two siblings are perceived as outcast based on their religious choice to be protestant after inheriting an estate from their family (Brazier, 2009). Trevor explores the concept of cultural encounter through both siblings to illustrate the religious obsession in the region at the time. The Cultural encounter is illustrated as rather a negative one that is characterized by violence from the short story due to individual’s obsession with religion.
In ‘’The Distant Past’’, Trevor offers a narrative description of the tension that persists amid a rich protestant family and the southern Ireland community which is comprised of Catholics. The residents in the town Hesitate amid recognition of this family and absolute disapproval in reference to the state of partisan, spiritual and social instability in Ireland (Malcolm & Malcolm, 2008). The community is obsessed with religion and therefore fails to acknowledge the general good and the contribution of this family. In the end, their patriotic pressure which they claim for their religion does not offer anything in return but end up destroying cultural encounter among the residents. The author demonstrates that the outcome of the cultural encounter is mainly determined by three major elements which are spiritual, political and social stability (Brazier, 2009). Without the stability of this element then violence becomes prevalent (Brazier, 2009).
Throughout the story, cultural encounter is illustrated substantially while illustrating the need for togetherness. In ‘’The Distant Past’’, this concept is treated as an essential element in regard to achieving any form of growth and stability (Malcolm & Malcolm, 2008). In that, due to the religious instability in Ireland with a majority of residents being Catholics, this brings about the rivalry with hesitation by the community to acknowledge and accommodate those that choose to be protestant. This is primarily driven by the set social standards which tend to emphasize the general importance of religious uniformity thus neglecting the need to allow individuals to make their individual option as they are all entitled to autonomy. In that, due to this religious and social instability, cultural encounter turns out to be undesirable as it subjects those that fail to conform to the set standards to alienation, solitude, and trauma as the community goes to the extent of attacking them for these choices (Malcolm & Malcolm, 2008).
In the story, the setting in Ireland appears to be highly considered and important for Trevor in regard to justifying the cultural encounter in the region to being fueled by religious, partisan and social norms. It is the setting that the author is able to explicit the existing internal conflict. There was intense discontent in the region during the period which had remained prevalent for a number of years (Shaffer, O'Donnell, & Ball, 2011). In that, while the annexation of the Northern side of Ireland led to the refurbishment of a national religion in favor of the Protestants the southern region retained its fascination and consistently fought in the quest of retaining its Catholic domination. This state, therefore, makes the cultural interaction unfavorable as it tends to exclude those that fail to offer support to it. In other words, the author Trevor appears to be fully aware of cultural encounter and settled for this setting in order to illustrate the effects of such instabilities towards interactions among individuals from different social and religious background. In that, the author accomplishes this objective mainly by settling the setting and creating two protagonists who are from a wealthy family and also Protestants something that is well received by the Southern Ireland community (Shaffer, O'Donnell, & Ball, 2011). Based on the awareness of the author in regard to the theme of cultural encounter, he manifests it by demonstrating the underlying conflict among the Catholic believers and Protestants and the resulting outcome of violence, solitude, and alienation.
Trevor successful creates an intense conflict within the Ireland setting which is primarily characterized by instability in order to illustrate the theory behind the cultural encounter notion. He utilizes religion obsession to illustrate this theme and through the conflict, the readers can fully understand the theme and the fueling forces being religious domination and social norms which appears to be in favor of the Catholic religion against protestant. The readers can now fully acquire awareness and familiarity of this notion through the existing conflict that grows rather gradually. The main characters of the story as the protagonists being Middletons are fully aware of the encounter of culture (Malcolm & Malcolm, 2008). In that, they believe that because they are of different religious views contrary to those of the Catholics as the majority they will have to die alone since they have been alienated and cannot even have friends. Due to this isolation, they both believe that dying with no friends is more dangerous than being killed in their own beds. In this context, it becomes clear that the characters are fully aware of the manner in which the community considers them as outcast and has rejected them from the real life an experience that they would have desired to taste. For many years they have handled the offensive attitude from the residents but at the end make the conclusion that nothing is to change for them because they will have to die lonely (Malcolm & Malcolm, 2008).
With respect to such remarks from the main characters, this illustrates that they are fully aware of this alienation. In that, they state that people have always perceived their presence as one that is not needed and due to their Protestantism they have been alienated completely. They believe that they have been rejected by the community because of their allegiances to the British ruling (Liggins, Maunder & Robbins, 2011). Throughout the story, the author utilizes the past versus the present to illustrate different forces that pressure individuals to hold their past due to the fear of facing challenges that are dominant in the present existence. Through this strategy, the author is fully able to address the intermingling of the present and past. In that, at the beginning of the story the readers can guess that the conflict amid the British and Ireland ruling have been buried but later the religious tension proves the notion as unreal (Liggins, Maunder & Robbins, 2011). In that cultural encounter is explored through the present versus the past theme as the town people seems to be clinging to their old principles which were grounded on Catholic monopoly and even after civilization they are unwilling to abandon their standards to accommodate those of different believes. This, therefore, shows the consistent tension that the interaction amid the past and the present can bring and thus affect the ability of individuals to interact fully. The first Friday visit illustrates the underlying conflict due to cultural and religious differences that the protagonist family seeks to address. Even though the conflict amid with the British had ended decades ago the community finds it’s easier to connect with the past rather than focusing on dealing with the current issues (Liggins, Maunder & Robbins, 2011).
In conclusion, it is evident that Trevor authored the short story with cultural encounter notion in mind. This is because he chose the right setting for illustrating the concept to the readers fully. Through highlighting the social and religious conflict in the region, the readers can ultimately understand that the interaction amid both parties is negative because the Catholics are obsessed with their religion and therefore failed to see any good held by the Protestants who comprise of the minority populace in the region. In other words, the protagonists are subjected to solitude and alienation due to the involved conflict and fully understands its effects.
References
Brazier, C. (2009). One world: A global anthology of short stories. Oxford: New Internationalist.
Liggins, E., Maunder, A., & Robbins, R. (2011). The British short story. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Malcolm, C. A., & Malcolm, D. (2008). A companion to the British and Irish short story. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell.
Shaffer, B. W., O'Donnell, P., & Ball, J. C. (2011). The encyclopedia of twentieth-century fiction. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell.
