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Sample Student
final answers 2013 (2013 final exam assignment) #1: Research Reports |
LITR 4333
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Carolee Osborne
Feast or Famine
I am doing my research report on the potato
famine and the effects it had on the Irish community. I would like to learn more
about what created this catastrophe that led to the migration of the Irish to
America. I would also like to
research how this potato famine altered the world view of the Irish as a whole.
I hope to shed light on why Irish immigrants exemplify a new world immigrant.
Because the Irish were forced to flee their country for survival, they
were left with conflicting ideologies of minority and immigrant feelings.
These people, like many immigrants and minorities felt alienated and
unaccepted. Not only were they impoverished in the midst of the “land of
plenty”, but they were different and confused. I will graduate soon with a
degree in literature, but I am working to become certified in Special Education.
This is a goal of my entire adult life. I can relate to the feelings of being
different, because I too, had to learn to deal with a learning disability.
Mentally challenged children do not always understand why they have more trouble
understanding concepts and, thus, feel alienated.
Many of these young people come from disadvantaged homes and see the
material possessions others have. My knowledge and understanding of the
emotional, psychological, and physical challenges of
immigrants and minorities will aid me in the understanding of children
who often do not feel a part if the greater society. I chose this group because
I hope to uncover the effects of such a catastrophe and the emotional toll on
the Irish before, during, and after the Irish potato famine.
In the beginning, majorities of the
population of Irish people were poor but did not starve because of the land’s
ability to grow the potato. This amazing vegetable was a blessing to the Irish
because “No other crop has such a high yield that it can afford sustenance to an
entire family on such a small area of ground, and it is, in addition, virtually
the only food that can be eaten exclusively all year round without leading to
serious nutritional deficiency.” (Murchadha 6) The Irish people were so
dependent on the potato that any break in their system would lead to total
devastation for them. In fact, “On the eve of the Famine, just short of three
million people were completely dependent for subsistence on the potato, with a
further several million heavily dependent on the plant.” (Murchadha 7) The
devastation of the potato would become the biggest downfall in their history.
During 1845-1852, the potato famine began
when “hytophthora infestans or 'late blight' [was introduced to the potato
crop]. This disease was caused by a fungus, which had probably originated in
Mexico. Extremely fast spreading, being carried by wind or water, the fungus had
the ability to recreate 'countless, asexually produced zoospores'.” (Kinealy 52)
The worst of the potato famine was in the beginning of 1847 when the
government’s plan to thwart the impending starvation of its people failed. The
potato famine created problems such as starvation and disease. Disease became a
greater threat to the Irish people because they were so malnourished their
bodies were not able to fight off the diseases to which they were exposed.
“The three main diseases were fever, dysentery and smallpox, each of
which was highly contagious. Other less common but also deadly illnesses were
bronchitis, diarrhea, influenza, measles and tuberculosis.” (Kinealy 93)
The government decided to implement soup
kitchens in an effort to save the Irish people from starvation. This created an
overcrowding of people in one small area which further allowed the spread of
diseases. Shelters were also implemented, however, problems developed due to the
large amounts of people affected by the potato famine, which caused an
overcrowding of people, and opened the door to spreading more diseases. Irish
immigrants were forced to leave their homes and heritage in an effort to save
their families from a life of starvation and deadly diseases.
After the famine, things seemed to settle
down, however, not for long. After the
Famine: Irish Agriculture, 1850-1914 by Michael Turner teaches that during a
census land cultivation was actually on the rise. Turner states that “The total
cultivated area rose during the first twenty years or so after the Famine, but
thereafter it declined. Obviously the severe decline in population from 6.552
million in 1851 to 4.39 million by 1911 helps to explain the fall in the
cultivated area.” (16) Unfortunately this seemed to be the norm for the Irish.
Just as things would begin to improve, something would happen to devastate them
all over again. As families noticed their farming was not improving, they began
looking to immigrate to a land that would allow them to prosper and take care of
their families. In this way the Irish displays the standard immigrant narrative,
because they moved to America of their own will.
Some viewed the aftermath of the potato
famine as having a positive effect on the economy. Turner explains that the
landowners “Now that they had vacant holdings the landlords could indulge in
some restructuring, probably for the first time for perhaps a century.”
(166-167) The landlords did not feel that the amount of land that was returned
to them as a result of the potato famine was enough so they began evicting
people who had not paid their rent. However, this was still not enough to
satisfy the landlords, so they teamed up with the government to evict those that
had also not paid their taxes. The taxes that were not paid were the very taxes
that provided relief for those who suffered from the potato famine. Therefore,
the “Evictions may have added to that tax burden by putting yet more pressure on
those schemes.” (167) The potato famine and the evictions of many of its people
laid the groundwork for immigrant literature because as the people left their
homeland in Ireland and traveled to a strange land called the United States They
wrote of the problems faced when that they were forced to leave home in order to
survive and provide for their families.
During and after the potato famine, the
Irish fled to America with dreams of prosperity and survival which resulted in
the number of Irish in several states to make up a majority of the people. New
York, for example, flourished during these times because so many Irish
immigrants chose to make it their home.
Linda Dowling Almeida author of
Irish Immigrants in New York City, 1945-1995 depicts the effects that the
immigrants had on the community in New York. She States that “Within fifty years
of the famine exodus the Irish had built a complex, diverse community in New
York of more than 600,000 immigrants and their children. The total city
population in 1890 was 1.5 million, so the Irish were a significant presence.
They represented almost one-third of all New Yorkers.” (12) The Irish in New
York continued to grow well into the 1980’s; however; there was a struggle to
find accurate numbers of the Irish living in New York. Almeida shows that when
they finally received accurate numbers “In 1980 the number of New Yorkers
identifying themselves by the single ancestry of Irish, the category most likely
to be immigrant or first generation, by borough, was as follows: Bronx, 56,673;
Brooklyn, 74,180; Manhattan, 51,603; Queens, 106,982; and Staten Island,
28,163.25 These ethnics represented 4.5 percent of the city’s total population.”
(64) This proves that immigrants play an important role in the United States
economy by assimilating to the dominant culture and planting firm roots within
American society.
The Irish exemplifies the standard immigrant
since they immigrated to America of their own will. The Irish potato famine
caused an influx of people needing to provide food and shelter for their
children through which the only choice was immigration. Before the Irish potato
famine, most Irish families used the potato as their only means of financial and
nutritional support. This left them venerable to crises in which the potato was
no longer able to grow in Ireland. After the potato famine, thousands of
families were left without a way to support their families so they were forced
to leave their homes and immigrate to a new home, America.
A majority of the Irish immigrants moved to New York and established
communities that embodied the dominant culture. Through this type of voluntary
immigration the immigrant narrative is born depicting their ideas of
assimilation and their life as an American immigrant.
Works Cited
Almeida, Linda Dowling. Irish immigrants in New York City,
1945-1995. Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001. Print.
Kinealy, Christine. ” A death-dealing famine the great hunger
in Ireland.” Chicago, Ill.: Pluto Press, 1997. Print.
Ó Murchadha, Ciarán. “The great famine Ireland's agony
1845-1852.” London; New York: Continuum, 2011. Print.
Turner, Michael Edward. After the famine Irish agriculture,
1850-1914 / Michael Turner. Cambridge ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University
Press, 1996. Print.
