Owen

In Translations, Owen O’Donnell is a typical biblical character that has an identity crisis. If a prodigal son comparison can be applied, he is the returning son, only he is rich and thriving in Dublin, Ireland. Meanwhile, his less fortunate brother Manus is in Baile Beag helping their father, Hugh “Big Hughie” O’Donnell, run a hedge school. With a national school being built, Hugh has been offered a position as a headmaster, and his own hedge school will soon lose its relevance. In the classroom scene where he first appears, Owen is delighted to be back in the place of his roots. However, he seems to mock his people, sarcastically calling them "'civilised'" (Friel 29). It is understood later that the quotation marks for "civilised" are based on the Gaelic language in relation to Owen's job that requires him to "correct"(35) them. This is the first instance where we see how important of a cultural component language is to Irish identity and the people of Baile Beag in particular. Owen comes home with intentions of helping the British to Anglicize the Gaelic place names. The weak argument here would be that Owen’s occupation as a civilian interpreter might make him feel that his native language is quaint and archaic compared to “the King’s good English” (30). However, in the process of joking at his fellow natives and doing his job, Owen forgets that those names reflect on stories and traditions that have been with the people of Baile Beag for many years.

The first time we meet Owen as readers, he is back home after a six-year absence from Baile Beag, which he has helped rename to Ballybeg. The two Englishmen he is with, Lieutenant Yolland and Captain Lancey, call him Roland instead of Owen, something that Manus points out to him. Owen’s response to his brother’s questioning is what makes his case of identity interesting to explore. In Act I, when Manus questions his brother about why he is not correcting the captain and the lieutenant for misnaming him, Owen says, “…Owen – Roland – what the hell. It’s only a name. It’s the same me, isn’t it? Well, isn’t it?” (Friel 37). Unfortunately for Owen, his response reveals more about his level of comfort with being himself, than whether or not the name changes him as a person. This dissonance is inevitable to realize for Owen, because the whole process of changing the Gaelic place names by itself causes the other residents to question whether or not their identity is being compromised.

In the beginning, what Owen does not realize is that what he allows the two men to identify him as can and has grown on him, causing him to fall into an identity crisis. He is asking himself “It’s the same me, isn’t it?” (Friel 37). As Ronald Rollins points out in his essay "Friel's Translations: the Ritual of Renaming," the easy answer to Owen’s question is: No. It is not the same Owen (39). Through the influence of language, Owen has been left to wonder about where he truly belongs. "His identity has been altered and eroded by the arbitrary ritual of naming, and his loss prefigures the larger loss which is to follow - the loss of their historical-cultural identity by all the Irish people living in this English colony" (Rollins 39). Even more unfortunate for him, “Manus points out that the English have already eroded Owen’s identity, his sense of self, by changing, without asking, Owen’s name to 'Roland'”(38). At this point, Owen’s perception of his own identity is less clear to him than it is to his brother, fellow natives, and the British soldiers he works for. He has become too good at his job to the point where he has the power to change and erase meanings that are essential to his identity, and that of the Irish people.

Before Captain Lancey's eviction threats scare Owen in Act III, he does not seem disturbed by his job description, one that requires him to help the British remap and “correct” (Friel 35) the place names of Ireland. Again, Manus questions the incorrectness of these names. He sees how his brother’s name has received the standardization treatment. Manus is therefore concerned about the fate of the Gaelic place names because they are affiliated with the denizens’ identities. In her book, Postcolonial Theory in Irish Drama From 1800-2000, Dawn Duncan explores Owen's identity crisis. She attempts to compare the two naming instances by equating their effect on Owen when she writes “Owen, Roland – what’s the difference? Not much more than Bun na hAbhann and Burnfoot” (205). Duncan's pointed sarcasm implies that Owen needs to recognize the connection between naming and identity, rather than remaining deaf to the ontological dissonance. Maybe Owen might be “translated” into Roland by virtue of closeness of the sounds like the place names and the reasoning for renaming them. However, his failure to realize the significance of the “corrections” is an indictment to Owen’s individual and Irish identity, and the unspoken power of having one. At this moment, Manus may see his brother as someone who has joined the proverbial dark side. Unfortunately, Owen does not realize that his name and identity are so interconnected that one helps define the other.

Duncan, Dawn. Postcolonial Theory in Irish Drama From 1800-2000. Edwin Mellen Press, 2004. Print.

Friel, Brian. Translations. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1981. Print.

Rollins, Ronald. "Translations: The Ritual of Renaming." The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies 11.1 (Jun. 1985): 35-43. JSTOR. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.