Analysis of the Volunteers
in James Stephens'
The Insurrection in Dublin
James Stephens published The Insurrection in Dublin shortly after the 1916 Easter Rising. The book has been through several revisions, but Stephens' has an accurate account of the events during the Easter Rising. In The Insurrection in Dublin, Stephens pays close attention to the Dublin citizens' views of the Volunteers. While most of them have a negative opinion of the army, it may seem as if Stephens is also against the Volunteers. However, certain works outside the text argue that he was in favor of the battle that the Volunteers participated in.
In The Insurrection in Dublin, Stephens is in the midst of the turmoil happening around him. While he is in the middle of the Easter Rising, Stephens makes observations of the citizens. He says:
"The feeling that I tapped was definitely Anti-Volunteer, but the number of people who would speak was few, and one regarded the noncommital folk who were so smiling and polite, and so prepared to talk, with much curiosity, seeking to read in their eyes, in their bearing, even in the cut of their clothes what might be the secret movements and cogitations of their minds" (Stephens 57).
This quotation shows how intuitive Stephens is because he can simply gather that the citizens dislike the Volunteers by the expressions on their faces. While the citizens formulate their thoughts against the Volunteers, they also communicate directly with Stephens.
Stephens asks the question: "was the city for or against the Volunteers? Was it for the Volunteers and against the Rising? It is considered now that Dublin was entirely against the Volunteers[...]" (Stephens 35).
He asks the city's
opinions regarding the Volunteers. The women reply, 'I hope
every man of them will be shot' (Stephens 36).
Other citizens say, 'they went forth always to
battle; and they always fell' (Stephens 40).
Contrary to the city's beliefs, Stephens actually supported the Volunteers. Surprisingly, Stephens had "sympathy with the insurrection, which reveals itself in occasional flashes" (Martin 109). His great sympathy is affected by his involvement with the Sinn Fein. Stephens has optimism for the war and would rather have the Volunteers get beat rather than not put up a fight.