Philadelphia, Here I Come! - Example questions - CCEA

Use these questions to hone your knowledge of Philadelphia, Here I Come! and to practise using your notes and analysis in organised paragraphs that focus on how particular themes or ideas are shown in the play. There is an example answer in the following section to demonstrate how you can do this.

• How does Friel use the character of Madge in Philadelphia, Here I Come!?
• To what extent are the Boys presented as true friends in Philadelphia, Here I Come!?
• To what extent does Brian Friel present memory as precious in Philadelphia, Here I Come!?
• How does Friel present the father-son relationship in Philadelphia, Here I Come!?
• In what ways does Gar show his real feelings during the course of Philadelphia, Here I Come!?
• In what ways do characters fail to communicate in Philadelphia, Here I Come!?
• How does Friel present loss in Philadelphia, Here I Come!?
• What dramatic methods does Friel use to show life in Ballybeg in Philadelphia, Here I Come!?

Below is a demonstration of how to use the material in this section to answer an example essay question. The answer below is not a full essay, but only an extract of a longer answer showing some of the points that could be made.

Q: How does Friel present loss in Philadelphia, Here I Come!?

A: The protagonist of Friel’s 1964 tragicomic play Philadelphia, Here I Come! is Gar O’ Donnell, a young man who lives with his father in Ballybeg, Donegal, during the 1960s. Ballybeg is economically deprived and promises little future for young residents like Gar so – as with many young people of his age at the time – he decides to go to America where jobs and opportunities are more plentiful. The exclamatory title of the play initially suggests Gar holds excitement and enthusiasm for his emigration, but it becomes clear over the course of the play that this title is ironic and that he is ambivalent about his decision. Not only does the play make clear the things he will lose by going – his family, friends, and hometown – but it shows that the decision to emigrate is itself the product of loss: Gar’s personal loss of his relationship with Kate Doogan, his aunt Lizzy’s loss of the chance to be a mother to her own children (which drives her to persuade Gar to come to America to live with her), and on a wider note, the loss of opportunity that lots of young people like Gar faced by staying in rural Ireland.

Gar’s family consists of his father, S.B. O’Donnell, and their housekeeper Madge; his mother Maire died shortly after he was born and he never knew her. This loss of a mother figure is partly balanced out by Madge, who has been with the family throughout Gar’s life and with whom he has a close relationship; however, it is clear that Gar still feels the loss of his real mother. He asks Madge about her, and is partly drawn to life with his aunt Lizzy Sweeney because of her supposed resemblance to her sister Maire in personality – this suggests the loss of Maire is presented as a partial reason for Gar’s decision to emigrate. It is shown in a flashback that on a previous visit from America (where she now lives), Lizzy became very emotional about the fact that she and Con were – despite spending “a fortune on doctors” – unable to have any children of their own. This loss of Lizzy’s informs her open offer to Gar to come and live with them in Philadelphia; when he accepts she is delighted. Both Lizzy and Gar have lost the closest potential relationships of their lives – Gar with his mother and Lizzy with her imagined children – and so their individual losses are shown as driving them to be together and adding greater emotional weight to Gar’s decision to leave Ballybeg. This shows loss to be a driving factor in the narrative of the play.

This essay could go on to make the following points, backed up by evidence from the play and analysis/interpretation of that evidence:

• Friel uses flashback to show Gar’s loss of his relationship with Kate Doogan and implies that it is this emotionally crushing loss of love and a potential future which finally consolidates Gar’s decision to leave.
• Friel uses the commentary by the other half of Gar’s split persona, Gar Private, and imagery related to alchemy and magic to show how the loss of his friends will be mutually felt as sadness despite their banter and bravado around each other.
• Friel uses monologues by Gar Private and by Madge to show the loss each of them will feel by being separated, and shows the deep upset felt by S.B. at his impending loss through stage directions; these contrast with the dialogue to show his real feelings since he refuses to discuss his true emotions.