First Mandatory Task (of Three)

Your initial task: read the short story: William Trevor’s “Men of Ireland,” which first appeared in 2005. The unidentified, third-person narrator conveys details of a journey back to Ireland undertaken by Donal Prunty, an Irishman in his early fifties. He has been living in London, England, either in hostels or on the street. The purpose of the temporary homecoming is to confront a retired priest with whom Pruty had a traumatizing experience over 20 years earlier.

You can access William Trevor’s “Men of Ireland” as a printable PDF by clicking the icon above. Alternatively, you can read it by clicking here.

 Second Mandatory Task (of Three)

Your second task: complete and submit — via Folio, before the deadline — the single Write Now (i.e. written homework) exercise about the focal literary text. Refer to your syllabus and/or the course Folio page to check the submission deadline. No late work is accepted.

There are 10 questions, presented in reading order. In other words: the questions chronologically track the PDF that contains the assigned reading: William Trevor’s 2005 short story “Men of Ireland.” When attempting the questions, it’s advisable NOT to begin with Folio but instead to answer the questions, one after the other, in a Microsoft Word document, which you should save as you proceed. That way, you’ll always have proof that you completed the exercise, even if Folio goes down or otherwise doesn’t cooperate. When you have finished the entire Write Now exercise, you should review it carefully, save it again, and then submit it via Folio — either as a Microsoft Word document or a PDF — before the firm deadline. The ability to submit ceases at that time, and effort not received before the deadline earns a grade of zero. Another way of saying the above: late submission isn’t possible. Remember, please, that your grade depends not just on correct responses but also: complete sentences; good grammar; accurate spelling; and clear expression.

You can find the ten questions in a PDF document, available by clicking here or, alternatively, clicking the green bar immediately below. The questions also appear in the body of the literary text.

Please be very mindful of the following statements, which appear on the course syllabus.

Do your own work. Students may not collaborate on the production of responses to Write Now quizzes (i.e. homework exercises). When grading, we pay close attention to similarities between submissions. A student found to have copied or otherwise relied on another student’s work (on even one occasion) — or found to have committed plagiarism — will receive an “F” for the entire course and, in addition, will be reported to the University for a hearing that may result in suspension or expulsion from GS.

Third Mandatory Task (of Three)

Your third task: study the instructional content. In order to render the lectures as clear as possible, your instructor has captured their essential material in written form, presented immediately below as a PDF: Written Account of Trevor Material. Consider this document your primary resource when studying the focal text. Terms that have particular importance appear in highlighted form.

EXAM WORDS

When preparing for your exam about this work of literature, ensure that you are fully up to speed with the following data (all of which receive explanation in the written account):

William Trevor Cox ••• Trevor’s The Old Boys; Cowley’s The Men Who Built Britain; Corkery’s The Hidden Ireland; Murphy’s Forbidden Fruit; Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Narnia; lamppost) ••• Ulster-Scots Presbyterians who emigrated to America during 1700s became known as Scots-Irish ••• Queensborough; Lower Muscogee Creek ••• Great Hunger (potato famine) emigrants, from 1845: mainly Roman Catholic peasants ••• 1950s: “lost decade”; 16% emigration rate; “forgotten Irish” ••• navvies: construction laborers ••• British National Health Service ••• digs ••• Prunty = “banqueting hall” ••• IRA Birmingham (UK) pub bombings of 1974 ••• Taoiseach; Seán Lemass; oil crisis of 1979 ••• Celtic Tiger economic boom (1995-2008) ••• FDI; EMEA ••• IT sector; pharmaceuticals sector ••• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) ••• Poland as foremost source of immigrants into Ireland ••• what the Irish mean by an “estate”; housing bubble ••• water-bottling plant ••• one in four ••• nature of mead as an alcoholic beverage ••• “the Green Book” ••• dioceses: Ossory (County Kilkenny); Ferns (County Wexford) ••• hierarchy = bishops and archbishops ••• Seán Fortune; Suing the Pope television documentary; New Ross; seminary  ••• Gleban may mean “white glen”; bonzer means “excellent” (Australian slang) ••• Rose Brehany; Brehon laws ••• Virginia creeper ••• victim-blaming: Meade’s attempt to pathologize Prunty as a thief ••• St. Eulalia: virgin-martyr; patron saint of Barcelona; saltire ••• Tuam mother-and-baby home; Bon Secours nuns