Vision and Viewpoint Essay

The three texts I have studied are Lies of Silence (LOS) by Brian Moore, Inside I’m Dancing (IID) by Damien O’Donnell and The Plough and the stars (PATS) by Sean O’Casey. The theme of escapism is highlighted hugely in these three texts but at the same time shown very differently in each one. Not only does the theme help the texts develop but it also gives an impact to each text by displaying key moments and actions of characters.
As said, a theme can greatly impact on a text and we see this with how escapism is defined in these three texts. The theme of escapism is not only necessary but it is also selfish and cruel and as I studied these three texts I realised that escapism can be viewed in both a positive and negative aspect.
Michael Dillon in LOS shows us how escape is necessary not only does he want to escape from his marriage but he thinks his new home and surroundings will destroy him thus sees this as a reason he needs to escape from Belfast. Similarly in PATS escape is shown as a necessity.   Nora feels she needs to escape from the tenement because if she does not she will give way to the overwhelming forces of Dublin at this time which has happened all around her, including to her neighbours. She feels she needs to distance herself from the poverty in Dublin and she does many things to distract her from the bad actions happening around her, she does not want to know about them so she treats herself to a lovely hat and flaunts it to everyone in the tenement. IID slightly differs from the two previous texts as escape in this text is more defined as selfish. Michael gets accused for leaving Carrigmoore due to selfish reasons, the carers in Carrigmoore feel as if he hasn’t thought it through and he is just being selfish. They do not believe he will survive in the outside world.
This theme affects characters in all three texts in many ways directly and indirectly. We see in IIM that having Michael escape from Carrigmoore and go out into the big bad world...