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At the beginning of their journey, Mahony and the narrator have a run-in with a group of “ragged girls” and “ragged boys,” poor children who may be orphans. When Mahony chases the girls with his slingshot, the ragged boys throw rocks at the narrator and Mahony to defend the girls, and while Mahony wants to fight back, the narrator talks him out of it. When the narrator and Mahony move on, the whole “ragged troop” calls them “swaddlers,” pejorative slang for Protestants, because Mahony has the badge of a cricket club in his hat. The poor children highlight the contrast between Mahony and the narrator’s comfortable middle-class lives and the widespread poverty in Dublin in the late 19th century. The fact that the children think Mahony and the narrator are Protestants emphasizes how important the conflict between Catholics and Protestants is in Dublin at this time, even to its youngest inhabitants.
The Ragged Boys and Girls Quotes in An Encounter
The An Encounter quotes below are all either spoken by The Ragged Boys and Girls or refer to The Ragged Boys and Girls. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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An Encounter
Quotes
Mahony began to play the Indian as soon as we were out of public sight. He chased a crowd of ragged girls, brandishing his unloaded catapult and, when two ragged boys began, out of chivalry, to fling stones at us, he proposed that we should charge them. I objected that the boys were too small, and so we walked on, the ragged troop screaming after us: “Swaddlers! Swaddlers!” thinking that we were Protestants because Mahony, who was dark-complexioned, wore the silver badge of a cricket club in his cap.
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The Ragged Boys and Girls Quotes in An Encounter
The An Encounter quotes below are all either spoken by The Ragged Boys and Girls or refer to The Ragged Boys and Girls. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
An Encounter
Quotes
Mahony began to play the Indian as soon as we were out of public sight. He chased a crowd of ragged girls, brandishing his unloaded catapult and, when two ragged boys began, out of chivalry, to fling stones at us, he proposed that we should charge them. I objected that the boys were too small, and so we walked on, the ragged troop screaming after us: “Swaddlers! Swaddlers!” thinking that we were Protestants because Mahony, who was dark-complexioned, wore the silver badge of a cricket club in his cap.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock explanations and citation info for this and every other An Encounter quote.
Plus so much more...
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