Themes in Philadelphia Here I Come!

Themes in Philadelphia here I come!
● The issues that define the world of the play are memory, communication and
disappointment.
● Memory
○ Friel uses flashbacks to great effect to fill in the background to Gars reasons
for leaving home and his conflicted emotions about going.
○ KS: The first flashback focuses on Gars relationship with Katie. He recalls the
night he ruined his chance of spending the rest of his life with Katie.
○ Because we hear private Gars opinion of the encounter, we understand just
how embarrassed and disgusted Gar is with his own behaviour.
○ Gar is unable to bring up the topic of marriage when speaking to Kate's father
and regrets this decision the most.
○ As the flashback ends Private gar wearily recounts the details of Kate's
wedding to Francis.
○ He says how this memory has left “a deep scar on the aul skitter of the soul”
and was “a sore hoke on the aul passage”
○ The second flashback covers Aunt Lizzy’s visit to Ballybeg on the day of Kate
Doogans wedding.
○ Here Gar impetuously agrees to go to America with his Aunt Lizzy in search
of a new life.
○ Gars memory of this fateful day makes it clear that his decision to emigrate to
America was a sudden impulse rather than a rational reasoned choice.
○ Memory is used to try and save the father/son relationship: “the fishing we
used to do on lough na Cloc Cor” Gar is then told by his father he has no
recollection.
○ This Key scene is central to Gars departure and undoubtedly leads to him
making up his mind to leave his father behind.
○ Gar is bitterly disappointed by his failure to discover if his father has any
precious memories of them growing up.
○ S.B. fondly recalls young Gar as a small boy as “the two of us, hand in hand,
as happy as larks - we were that happy, Madge”
○ Friel does not use flashbacks to show the fishing trip or Gar and S.B. walking
to school because their memories are subjective (not definite)
○ He is disappointed by his friend's childish behaviour before he leaves but
promises to remember them for the good things instead of the bad.
○ All Gar is left with before his departure for America by the end of the play is
his memories, some of which are good and some bad.
○ The play closes with Gar creating one last memory of Madge, who acts as a
motherly figure to him.
● Communication
○ Private gar is eloquent, witty, mocking and sometimes quite cruel, on the
other hand, struggles to communicate with those around him.
○ Gar is desperate to open up in a line of communication with ish father before
he leaves for America.
○ Gar longs for some sign that his father loves him and wants him to stay.
Private wants S.B. to say something like, “Gar you bugger you, why dont you
stick it our here with me for its not such a bad aul bugger of a place.”
○ Gar wants to break the silence in a meaningful way but is incapable of doing
so.
○ The tragedy here is that Gar and S.B. do love each other but cannot
communicate it in a way that will help their relationship.
○ KS: Gar tries to rekindle their relationship while talking about memories. Here
he misses the emotional significance of the moment and Gar is humilkiated
and upset, he rushes off leaving S.B. alone.
○ KS: S.B. also tries to rekindle his relationship with his father by recalling a
memory years ago but can only communicate it with Madge. S.B. is frustrated
at the lack of communication he can convey to Gar.
○ Gar and S.B. are both able to communicate with other characters properly but
cannot communicate with each other.
○ Gar believes that Canon O’Byrne is one of the only people that can bridge the
gap between himself and his father.
○ Madge also tries to stimulate the communication between S.B. and Gar but
fails.
○ The Boys and Gar communicate solely on a social level; they refuse to talk
about their feelings and push to make themselves sound better than what
they are.
○ Ultimately Gar is left alone with his regrets and his doubts about leaving, but
he has nobody in whom he can confide.
● Disappointment
○ Life in Ballybeg is disappointing for the majority of characters in the play.
○ “She was nineteen and he was forty, and he owned a shop, and he wore a
soft hat, and she thought he was the grandest gentleman that ever lived.”
○ Lizzy says Maire’s shoulders were ‘sorta working’ on the alter and it wasnt
clear whether she was ‘crying or giggling’
○ Maire’s disappointment with S.B. is passed onto her son who blames his
father for his mothers unhappiness.
○ S.B. is also disappointed by his marriage to th beautiful wild girl from
Bailtefree. He knows she was miserable for the short period of time they wer
married and admits he was too old for her.
○ S.B. loves Gar but his lack of communication lead to disappointment to the
failure of their marriage.
○ Madge, who acts as a bridge between Gar and S.B. is also disappointed by
her own family relationships.
○ Gar knows that these memories will be a film he will run ‘over and over again’
in his mind. Tragically, Gar doesn't express his feelings for Madge before he
leaves.
○ Lizzy is deserving of sympathy because she wants to replace Madge as Gars
substitute mother.
○ Lizzy is deserving of sympathy because she too has been deeply
disappointed in life as she can have her own children.
○ Lizzy: “My son, Gar!”
○ It is hard to imagine anything but a disappointing end to the play.
○ Minor characters such as Master Boyle and the boys are all deeply
disappointed in their lives and try to hide behind it though playing up to new
personas.
○ They are all trapped in lives that are going nowhere and struggle to cope with
this.

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