Naming the Names Essay | Critical Essay #1

Naming the Names Critical Essay #1

Aubrey holds a Ph.D. in English and has published many articles on twentieth-century literature. In this essay, Aubrey analyzes Finn as a woman pulled between two worlds and also discusses the involvement of women in the Irish Republican Army during the conflict in Northern Ireland.

In her article, "Women, War and Madness," Elizabeth Doyle states that "Ambiguity about identity is a constant preoccupation in [Devlin's] work." The question of identity is particularly apparent in "Naming the Names." In a time of civil unrest, Finn, the protagonist, is a confused young woman, pulled in different directions by sexual, romantic, familial, political, and religious pressures that disturb her deeply and eventually lead her astray.

The odds are stacked against Finn from the beginning. For some reason that she never satisfactorily explains, she was raised by her grandmother, even when her parents were still alive. This may in part have been...
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