preview

Theme Of The Constant Past

Decent Essays

The concept of culture is one of the great ideas that have helped mankind to achieve much scientific progress and intellectual development; culture is a concept that is cumulative and continuous. Culture is the shared products of physical objects and the beliefs, values, and behaviors shared by a human group. The word has become used to reflect the cultivation of ideas and values. The concept of culture is also intertwined with other concepts. One being cultural encounters, cultural encounters are interactions between two or more people who work according to different social norms. Typically, cultural encounter refers to conflicting values; of encounter shaped by assumptions of cultural and racial superiority; and of violent confrontation. …show more content…

The main theme in "The Distant Past" is a depiction of how the past continues to affect the present, even after fifty years. Although over the past several years, it seems that past events have been laid to rest after Ireland's most independence from Britain in 1921, old conflicts in the city fade away. However, the Middletons, an Anglo-Irish family still loyal to Britain, of living with the Catholic people in the town that is loyal to Ireland, not Britain, has been forgotten. This includes even the incident where Fat Conroy and two other men stood in the Middleton houseroom, ready to shoot at British soldiers, while Middleton, who was children at the time, was locked in a room on the top floor. After many years, participants in this incident are able to laugh with each other about it. It seems as if the old wounds have healed. When violence broke out again in the late 1960s, this time between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, it initially seemed that it would not cause any harm to the city's relations. Residents of the Catholic town and the Protestant Middleton speak of violence with a common voice, condemning violence. But when British troops are sent to Northern Ireland and tourism drops to the city because people fear Ireland is no longer a safe place to visit, attitudes are changing. People are angry at the decline in trade and asked someone to blame. As a result, the friendships that have passed for years crossed political, religious and cultural barriers with sudden

Get Access