Kevin Blomquist

Cochran

Irish in America

5/16/22

Essay Exam #2

Throughout the duration of the last semester, we have discussed the Irish people’s place

in society. When we first looked at how the Irish were being treated, there was mass

discrimination and hatred towards them for being outsiders. As time went on, the Irish went on to

find their place in American society. We discussed the Irish American experience from the

perspective of Dolan and how it relates to the novel Charming Billy. Two points from Dolan that

are illustrated by Charming Billy are very symbolic of the Irish experience in America. The first

point is that the Irish had very negative stereotypes placed upon them by the rest of American

society even though it didn’t take all the cultural values brought to America by the Irish. The

next point that is illustrated is the Irish were able to take on such heavy burdens to try and do

whatever they could to make a better life for themselves. There was that Irish fire that set them

apart from lots of different people and it was that drive to do whatever they had to that Charming

Billy really captured and related to Dolan’s perspective about the Irish American experience.

These two points were demonstrated in Charming Billy and were explained in much detail by

Dolan that it is necessary to further understand why it was mentioned so much.

To start out, just like any other brand new culture immigrating into the U.S., there was

not a lot of immediate hospitality towards the new people. This is actually the understatement of

the century. When looking at when the Irish first came to the U.S., the goal was to escape the

famine back in Ireland and try to start over where they had any chance of being able to survive. It
was from this day on that the Irish were treated worse than dirt. They were treated worse than

slaves, they were given the most difficult jobs with the lowest amount of pay, and they were

expected to do all the most dangerous tasks because overall, their lives did not hold as much

inherent value as anyone else’s. These were a group of people who were expected to go to war to

fight for a country that treated them like dirt. This leads to the question, how does this relate to

Charming Billy? Charming Billy is the story of a regular man who dealth with a lifelong alcohol

addiction after the death of his first and true love. When the story starts it opens with his family

and friends attending his funeral and wondering why he became an alcoholic. No one knowing

why except for Dennis. How does this relate to the Irish people being treated like dirt by the

native-born american citizens? The Irish were given many hateful and derogatory stereotypes

that would crush many people because of how overshadowing they were. Some of these

stereotypes were all irish people are violent, most are liars, all irish people are red-headed, and

probably the most widespread stereotype, all irish people are drunks. This stereotype was very

present in Charming Billy because the main character died of alcoholism because of a life filled

with heartbreak and sadness from outside sources. Dolan addresses this in his book by

mentioning how the Irish would deal with this on a day to day basis. Signs on workplaces saying

“No Irish Need Apply (Collins, 2011)” or being compared to animals by being described as a

horde of wild people who would disturb the tranquility is quite a lot to deal with on an emotional

level. Dolan paints the picture clearly where the Irish, while they were just doing what they had

to in the effort of trying to live another day, they were getting discriminated against, encountered

prejudices every day, and dealt with so many nasty things from other members of the community

every single day that is seems fair to imagine, there were many other people that could have been

in a similar situation to Billy where in the place of heartbreak as the reason of alcoholism or
whatever self-harming behavior, other Irish people could have been taking part in self-harming

behavior such as suicide or anything else because of the aggression from the outside community.

There is only so much that a person can bear without being affected and that was seen in

Charming Billy. Billy’s breaking point was finding out that his true love died before they could

ever be together outside of the short time they knew each other and that knowledge sent Billy

over the edge. He dealt with the pain by drinking and it ended up killing him. Who knows how

many Irish people were nearly sent to an early grave or actually were sent to an early grave

because of all the verbal harassment and horrible abuse thrown on to them? That is why I believe

that this idea of negative stereotypes being placed on the Irish could have had such a negative

effect on the Irish and for all we know, it did. The next aspect I will be focusing on is how the

Irish did what they believed they had to do to make the best out of a bad situation and be able to

thrive in tha situation.

After learning about all the harassment and negativity directed at the Irish people, it

raises the question, why did they want to succeed or try so hard in a place where they were

treated so cruelly? And the answer to that is simple, but first, it is important to point out an

example of this idea as to best understand what this fight looks like. In the novel Charming Billy,

Billy had a friend named Dennis. Dennis was friends with Billy for many years and knows the

full story with Billy. Billy had the goal after Eva, his first true love, went back to Ireland to try

and start sending her enough money for her to come back to the U.S. to visit him once again. So

Dennis tried to help Billy out by borrowing money from his own family but Eva never went to

see Billy again. Just from this information right here, there is that Irish fight from both Billy and

Dennis. Billy wanted to overcome the adversity of the long distance relationship and do

whatever he could to marry the woman that he loves. While his best friend showed how far he
was willing to go to help his friend get the girl he most cares about. Now to close out the story,

Dennis learns that Eva ended up marrying her childhood sweetheart back in Ireland and was

even using the money that Billy was sending her to help her husband buy a business. After

learning this nasty truth, Dennis made a tough decision and pretended that she died because

Dennis whole-heartedly believed that this would be easier for him to accept. How does this relate

to the Irish fire and grit that I mentioned earlier? This is a great example of that for this reason,

Dennis took on the weight of that decision and did what he thought would help Billy the most to

live a better life. Dennis knew that if Billy were to learn of what Eva had done, he would be

more broken and would use whatever money he had left, essentially ruining himself, to try and

chase a dream. He did this all for his best friend which is a great representation of the Irish

culture. The Irish people in one form or another, all inherited a fire that helps them to do the best

thing for themselves and their fellow Irishmen. Many women took on midwife jobs that were

essentially slave jobs with how the master of the house would treat them, but did so with the goal

of sending money back to their relatives in Ireland. Many men worked incredibly dangerous

construction jobs because while they knew they did not have the skillset to take part in the more

lucrative jobs, they had to find a way to put food on the table. So they risked their lives doing

their daily jobs, they risked their lives when they protested for increased wages and better

working conditions, and they risked their lives trying to make their lives better for themselves

and those that they cared about. This fight to succeed can be seen from examples like that, they

can be seen from playwrights like Eugene O'Neill who poured his entire heart and soul into one

final play before he lost his ability to write and it is because of that determination to succeed that

his play, The Iceman Cometh, has a huge place in history! Dolan captured this idea when he that

“Irish nationalism and the urge for social justice in America reinforced each other (Collins,
2011)”. This quote is incredible because it shows that the Irish and their drive to succeed, did far

more than just improve their own situation, it helped many other people. It is because of this

drive to succeed and to try and make the best out of a horrible situation to not only succeed but

thrive, that I chose this as my second topic because Charming Billy did such a great job of

illustrating this idea that Dolan makes.

There are many comparisons to be made between the values that Dolan mentioned that

the Irish community had that were seen in Charming Billy. The Irish people had to deal with so

much hatred and animosity that could have affected a significant number of people in a similar

way to Billy. However, even though there was this hatred and animosity, there was also a fire

and grit that refused to back down to all the negativity. It is this spirit that was present in the Irish

community that helped them to make a name and to make a place for themselves in the

American communities instead of just surviving. This is how the novel Charming Billy

illustrated points that Dolan made about the Irish American experience from our unit four.