“When the dwindling population finally abandoned the islands in November 1953, there reasons for fear what their fate might portend for the wider project of Irish independence."
Before independence, there was mass immigration of people from Ireland to the neighboring countries that were doing well economically. The quote is significant because it shows that Ireland was underperforming economically, which forced people to look for better opportunities in the neighboring countries.
"My parents’ wedding photographs always remind me of a frontier town in an old Western. To prise open the mock mother-of-peal covers of the wedding album to enter a world of strange contrasts. The Catholic Church that forms the background to the photographs should be dark with gothic curves."
The quote shows that Ireland in the past was predominantly Catholic, and it emphasized the significance of holy matrimony. According to the church, the family was the foundation of a better society. The narrator’s parents were staunch Catholics because they married in church. The narrator is also influenced to follow in his parent's footsteps. However, the influence of the church started diminishing with time because people started becoming rebellious.
"They got a small flat in the handsome three-story red-brick Victorian house in the upper-middle-class suburb of Monks town, on the south side of Dublin."
When the narrator's parents are married, they want to live independently, and the description of their new home inspires optimism in readers. The quote shows readers that despite the country's struggles in the past decades, the narrator’s parents were optimists and wanted the best for their children.
