Compare the differing perspectives of growing up in Northern Ireland between Heaney and Johnston - page 1
Keywords: Northern Ireland Compare Growing Up Seamus Heaney Jennifer Johnston Shadows On Our Skin Digging Churning Day A Constable Calls
By roshooo on 10/06/2010
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 1 of 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
For many people, growing up in Northern Ireland involved fear, aggression and an unpleasant atmosphere. Northern Ireland has always had a chequered past and as an individual growing up in Northern Ireland and having a family that grew up here I have noticed a dramatic change in recent years from riots and violent protests to a more peaceful state.
In Heaney’s circumstances growing up in Derry in the 1940s was comfortable and pleasant. He lived with a loving family in a peaceful and tranquil area which allowed him to grow up in a carefree manner. In stark contrast to Heaney’s upbringing, Johnston’s character, Joe Logan led an unfulfilling childhood. He lived in the heart of Derry during the 1970s when the Troubles were occurring. This violence that constantly surrounded him was much different to Heaney’s situation as he could escape the brutality as it was merely in the background. Growing up in Northern Ireland today, I can personally say that the quality of an upbringing is much better than it as years before as most of the trouble has now gone and there is a much stronger sense of security. Even though the hostility still lives in the background, it is a much more pleasant place to live than it previously was.
Heaney was born in 1939 on a family farm in Mossbawn, Derry. He, unlike Joe Logan, grew up in a rural area which had an extremely different atmosphere to were Joe lived. Heaney’s childhood was secure and pleasant because he wasn’t involved in any violence and he had a loving family around him all the time. His upbringing was happy whereas Joe’s was the opposite. Joe had a traumatic youth filled with family feuds and belligerence at his doorstep. An important factor in the two situations is the difference in family relationships. Heaney had a lot of respect for his father, which is evident in his poem ‘Digging’ where he fondly speaks of his father working, ‘By God, that old man could handle a spade’. Also from his poem Mossbawn, he speaks lovingly about his family when he says ‘here is love’. He continues with this high regard for his family, referring to his father as ‘an expert’. This is very different to Joe Logan’s circumstances as his relationship with his family is almost non-existent. His father constantly ‘whined’ and cried’ and it was obvious that Joe detested him
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