Jimmy Jack
Jimmy Jack is described very specifically: "...he is a bachelor in his sixties, lives alone...His clothes—heavy top coat, hat, mittens, which he wears now—are filthy and he lives in them summer and winter, day and night." This description is evocative and gives us the sense that Jimmy is someone for whom material concerns matter little and intellectual concerns are of the utmost importance.
The Hedge-School
The setting of the play for its entirety is a hedge-school, which is held in some kind of barn-like building. What is most notable about the school is the fact that it does not look like a normal school. While the students have chairs and chalkboards, the set is also littered with the remnants of farming supplies. Friel writes, "Around the room are broken and forgotten implements: a cart-wheel, some lobster-pots, farming tools, a battle of hay, a churn, etc." In this we see that a place for learning has been superimposed on a working-class environment, showing the ways that Ireland does not have the infrastructure for a proper school at this time, and that institutions of learning in the Irish tradition have been pushed to the margins by English intrusion.
Maire and Yolland Hand in Hand
In Act 2, Scene 2, Maire and Yolland run in holding hands. This is the only scene of the play that does not take place in the schoolhouse, and it depicts two people from very different backgrounds, who cannot even speak one another's languages, holding hands, and connecting physically. This image shows that there is something beyond words that is connecting Maire to Yolland and vice versa.
Jimmy and Maire with the Name-Book
The final image of the play is Jimmy and Maire sitting together looking at the Name-Book, a book that has completely changed their sense of language entirely. Meanwhile, Hugh stands nearby, reciting ancient poetry. The image is that of individuals caught between two moments in history, remembering the past as they struggle to go along with a society that is hurtling at lightning speed towards the future.
