Philidelphia, Here I Come!: Why does Gar have to leave Ireland? - page 2
Keywords: Philidelphia, Here I Come! Gar Ireland Brian Friel Public Private
By roshooo on 10/06/2010
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 2 of 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
special people in his life but he only has a strong relationship with one of these people – Madge. Madge is like a mother-figure to Gar, she has always been there for him and has always looked after him and put his best interest at heart. Even when Gar was leaving Madge was there to make sure he had everything, ‘Has he his cap? … Aye he does’ and then she puts her spare money in his pocket, a totally selfless act, this highlights how much she cares for him, ‘(She puts the money into the envelope, and slips the envelope into the coat pocket) That’ll get him a cup of tea on the plane. I had put the two pounds by to get my feet done on the fair day. But I can wait til next month’. Unfortunately, Gar does not recognize this relationship to the extent he should, he is too preoccupied with the idea of SB and Kate loving him, two relationships that have failed.
Kate and Gar planned to get married; they fantasized and romanticized about living together and about their financial lives. They even got as far as going to Senator Doogan to ask about the marriage. However, Gar became terrified and let the dream fall away, ‘Mr. Doogan I want – I won’t be staying long,’ he is so close to asking for Kate’s hand in marriage but cannot bring himself to finish the question, he cannot carry it through and then changes the subject. When Kate found out, she ended up marrying another man, this broke Gar’s heart and added to his need to leave Ireland.
His relationship with SB, his father, added even more to this need to leave. SB was a quiet man who showed little emotion, and when he spoke, it was usually about his business. Gar desperately wants to be acknowledged by SB, ‘So tonight d’you know what I want you to do? I want you to make one unpredictable remark, and even thought I’ll still be on that plane tomorrow morning, I’ll have doubts’. The desire to have these relationships, knowing he will never have them, tears Gar apart and the only way he feels he can get out of feeling like that is to go to America. He believes that when he is in America, he will have strong relationships with women and with Con and Lizzy
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