The Irish

The characters who are resistant to the incursion of the British maintain a pride in their country and what it means to be Irish, which can be thought of as nationalistic. Manus and Hugh both have a sense that the language of Ireland and its identity has a great deal to do with the words that Irish citizens use. When he analyses the Gaelic language more closely, Hugh notes that there are clues to the Irish identity in the very syntax of the language. He says, "Yes, it is a rich language, Lieutenant, full of the mythologies of fantasy and hope and self-deception—a syntax opulent with tomorrows." In this line, Hugh encapsulates what it is about the Irish heritage, and the sense of identity, that sets it apart and makes it so unique. He alludes to the romance of the language, a language that has equal parts hope and delusion.