Morales 1

Mark Morales
Professor Batty
English 114A
21 October 2014
The Bad luck of the Irish
Racism is a never-ending way of dividing people that ultimately becomes self-destructive
to the population. The first thoughts that come to mind when thinking about racism are usually
people of color, those races that have been enslaved, or treated lower because of their exterior;
however, there are people treated like second-class citizens even though, physically, they look
like everyone else. The group I am focusing on in particular are the Irish. Much before the birth
of America, the Irish have been persecuted by English folk for their religious and social
behavior. In the 1100s, England invaded Ireland that created a friction created a friction that
would echo for centuries. The Irish were teased at their red hair, their religious beliefs, and even
their accents; they were called rude, barbaric, and lazy and many other names. Even though those
events are from a far-gone in time, and in English and Irish history, the attitude bled through.
People moved to the American colonies in the 16 and 1700s, carrying an ill will toward the Irish
that survived the revolution, Americas Manifest Destiny, and the American Civil War. On
September 2nd, 1871, Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harpers weekly newspaper, published a
cartoon titled The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things. This cartoon depicts all Irish people as
beastly, drunk, and self-destructive.
Irish folk learned to live with the prejudice and isolation for many years. During the
United States Civil War, Irishmen found themselves on both sides of the line, insuring that no
matter who won they could at least defuse some tension on the winning side. Shortly after the

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Civil War, Harpers Weekly published the cartoon. It portrayed a drunken man with an empty
bottle of rum in his right hand, and a lit torch in his left. He sits on top of a barrel that says
Uncle Sams Gun powder. The article under the cartoon is a long quote from the Irish
newspaper The Irish People. The article teases the idea the Irish people wanted Orangemen
justice. Some time before the Irish had published their article, a militia in New York killed some
Irish people and the article was a response to that. They wanted to arm Irish people to fight back.
In New York justices was not granted to the Irish. I do feel that telling people to arm themselves
is not the way to deal with injustice, but you have to do something to achieve what you think is
right. Everyone has their limits, and if Americans of the time continuously teased them like that,
I am sure breaking points were reached.
When Harpers Weekly published its with the cartoon, they were suggesting that these
demands were the rambling of a drunk, in the cartoon, the man holds the lit torch very close to
the barrel of gun powder; I think Nast was trying to make the argument that Irish men would arm
themselves with American arms and blow themselves up at the cost of American supplies
because they could not control their actions.
In addition to the obvious approaches Nast took to undermine Irish people, he also drew
subtle hints to the stereotypes that were expressed in that time. In the background of the picture,
there are words like Everything obnoxious to us, shall be abolished and We Must Rule. The
artist is saying that the Irish are saying this and no one should take the seriously for they are the
ramblings of a drunken man. The facial characteristics of the man on the keg were ape-like, A
very thick open jaw, and small nose and eyes with a blank stare. I also what to point out that the
man I wearing: a dress shirt, some kind of a tie, a vest, high waisted pants, normal looking shoes,

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and a top hat. I am not completely familiar with the trends of the 1800s, but I am presuming that
wearing these kinds of clothes means what it does today. They are clothes of business, if not that
then casual wear of that time period. I think the artist was trying to tell the audience of his
cartoon that Irish people look like everyone else, but they are different. The clothes might
represent the physique of the Irish people, in comparison to Anglo-Americans; they are the same.
Meaning, their skin colors, how tall they are generally, even their hair color at times are almost
exactly the same.
To go deeper then the picture and words of Nasts cartoon, I also took notice in the
shading patterns he used. You do not have to be an expert in art to notice the pattern of his
shading. Shading is very important when it comes to art, a lot of the time it can decide if a piece
of art is good or great. In the cartoon he shades using a crossing effect. The lines used to shade
can only go one of a handful of ways, and in completely different directions. If the artist wanted
a darker shade, you add more chris-crosses, and as it fades to a lighter shade, less and less lines
are used. This style of shading might represent the Irishmen in a different level; this style of
shading is very rouged, it could even be representing his mind and how his thoughts go I
different directions and he can follow any of them.
I have read many historical texts that point to the inequality of Irish and American
tendencies, but I do not think all people of that time felt unequal. Oliver Goldsmith was an
Anglo-Irish Scholar, who lived in the time of the American colonies. Although he was Irish,
Goldsmith sometimes thought of himself as higher then some men. He was an educated man, and
considered himself a gentleman. He wrote an essay called National Prejudices where he
explains those who are not well-educated express prejudice. They have lost the fact that they are

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part of one world. He looks down on those who treat others unequally. He holds his values
firmly and lives his life by them. Oliver Goldsmith shows that the stereotype of his race is just
that, untrue and outdated ideas. The cartoon was drawn after goldsmith time, which means the
drawing is very ignorant toward the perspective of others. This cartoon is not voicing the feelings
of the majority, but just an uneducated taunt to Irish folk because that is what he thought would
be amusing to his readers. The act of being racist to the Irish is an English tradition, not
American.
The severity of Racism may not be as that of a person of color. Being racists at all is selfdestructive. Today, I have not seen much racism against Irish people in particular; not too long
ago I hear a story on the news about Kick a Ginger day. I am sure that was not pointed directly
to Irish people that have been called Gingers in the past. Prejudice in general has to be
stopped, why kick a ginger? When you mistreat someone, you are not only representing
yourself but all who you are associated with. The Irish have values and are just as capable and
any and all races.

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Work Cited

"Colonial America (1492-1763)." Colonial America (1492-1763). N.p., n.d. Web.

14 Dec. 2014.

"HERB: Resources for Teachers | A Cartoonist Depicts "The Usual Irish Way of
Doing Things"" Omeka RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

McAdams, Richard, and Gilbert H. Muller. Instructor's Manual to Accompany

The McGraw-Hill Reader Gilbert H. Muller. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982.
Print.

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Index