The Irish immigrants in the movie “Far and Away” faced many struggles and challenges throughout their story of coming to America. Although not everyone in the Irish nation struggled there were many who did, mainly those who did not own their own land, as seen in “Far and Away”.
After the death of his father and the burning of his house, Joseph the poor young Irish peasant sets out to avenge his family. Joseph seeks out Daniel Christie the owner of his land and man who he thinks sent Steven to burn his house. However, on Joseph’s arrival he learns that Mr. Christie is not as bad of a man as he had earlier suspected.
Once Joseph fails his attempt to kill Mr. Christie he is challenged to a dual of pistols in the morning by Steven. Unexpectedly the morning brings in a heavy fog that allows Mr. Christie’s daughter Shannon cover to escape. In the process of her escape she picks up Joseph and takes him with her so the two can start a new life, her life to ride horses however she pleases and his to own his own land free of unruly landlords. The two like many others looking to gain land board a ship, which leaves to the New World. While on the boat Joseph and Shannon meet a man who offers to help them get the supplies they need to make it to Oklahoma land rush.
After the group arrives in Boston the man is shot, realizing the man was trying to steal Shannon’s silver spoons she attempts to collect what she can although she is unsuccessful. The two follow a young boy who offers to help them find work, which they do, except these jobs pay very little and so Joseph decides to join a group that partake in fights each night. Kelly, his employer, exploits his skills till he loses a main fight against an Italian. Kelly kicks him and Shannon out of their housing and fires both of them. Now forced onto the streets with no money or food they come to realize that as Irish immigrants everyone is reluctant to hire them. Breaking into a house they think they are safe till the owner comes back, shooting into the dark Shannon is hit in the back. With no other place to go for help Joseph takes her to her family who had come to America to find her.
Joseph then leaves finding work on the railroad, building tracks across America, one of the only jobs that would hire anyone. After a few months of work Joseph finds himself in Oklahoma territory where he jumps off of the train to go and claim his land in the land rush. After registering he runs into Shannon who has healed as well as Steven who makes it clear to Joseph that he must stay away from her unless he wants to be killed by “accident”. Being unfamiliar with horses Joseph purchases a great horse, according to the salesman, although shortly after the purchase the horse if found dead because it was so old. The journey soon comes to an end after he purchases a new horse and races Steven for Shannon’s perfect spot of land. The two fight till Joseph falls, hitting his head on a rock when Shannon confesses her love for him and how she will never truly care about Steven. As Shannon rushes to Joseph’s aid they can see others coming to their flagged spot of land, once recovered the couple placed their flag into the spot to claim their land together.
There were many challenges that the two had to endure and overcome in order to finally make it to Oklahoma, where they were finally able to claim their own land. Although, not every immigrant from Ireland has a similar story like this, it appeared that many people did not receive land in Oklahoma except it was difficult to judge in this movie.
What are you thoughts on Joseph working on the railroads?
Does this say something about immigrants in general and not just those from Ireland?
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I think Joseph working on the railroads was the only job he could find at the time. I don't think they really explained how or why he was there. I was also wondering if he lived anywhere or if he just rode the rail cars all the time? Kind of confusing. But I do think that this was what happened with most countries going to America. I think America was looked at as this "safe haven" kind of magic land that everyone wanted to go to because it was so wonderful. But it really wasn't like that at all for immigrants. I think no matter where you were from, it was probably the same sort of issues going to America.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the movie cut pretty quickly to Joseph working on the railroad. I figured that was the next job he could get, since he had nowhere to go. His job with the railroad shows that many immigrants had to take whatever they could get once over in America. This resulted in hard labor, cheap paying jobs that were probably a far cry from their original plans on the boat.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing that after his fallout with Kelly, Joseph took whatever job could keep him moving inland, perhaps as a subconscious way of getting him closer to the Oklahoma race. Ultimately, he leaves the job when he sees all of the people heading West, which perhaps means that he had kept that option open in the back of his mind the entire time.
ReplyDeleteFrom watching other movies about immigrants during that time period (namely, "Gangs of New York") it would seem that the Irish were the primary targets of prejudice by those willing to exploit new immigrants. However, I also think that most immigrants, even today, may have this misconception of what America has to offer, and are ultimately disillusioned to the reality of the American Dream.
I think Joseph took any job he could find. The railroad didn't care what nationality people were, everyone seemed welcome to work. The railroad job is a tough job and they needed a lot of people so I am sure they would take anyone willing to work. It doesn't show how he got there but I think he just needed a place to go and took what he could find. He didn't want to be on the railroad so he left when he saw other people heading towards Oklahoma.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that Joseph took whatever job he could find at that time. The movie had stated earlier that Irish immigrants were usually not hired for jobs that they were perfectly capable of doing. What is interesting is how Joseph mentions later that he worked on the same tracks that brought Shannon to the Oklahoma Territory. I thought that was an interesting thing that they put in the movie.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that this said to me was that Joseph, like many immigrants was taking any job that was available because he needed money to support himself.