Nellie Ruadh’s baby Symbol Analysis

Throughout Translations, Nellie Ruadh’s baby represents the Irish language and culture. The baby is born to a character who, like Gaelic, never actually appears on stage. The baby’s first reference comes early in Act One, when Sarah mimes rocking a baby to Manus to indicate that Hugh is late to class because he is at the baby’s christening. Shortly thereafter, Bridget asks her fellow students if they know what Nellie Ruadh has named her baby, reflecting the play’s repeated emphasis on the connection between names and the assertion of identity. Students joke that Nellie will name it after the baby’s father, who remains unknown—the baby is illegitimate, cut off from its paternal history. The baby’s christening, then, reflects the impending renaming of all of Baile Beag with names from an illegitimate fatherland—that is, Britain. However, the baby dies only a few days later. At the end of the play, Sarah repeats her baby-rocking gesture to Owen, but this time she does so to indicate that Hugh is at the baby’s wake. The message is clear: renaming the Irish landscape spells death for the Irish language. It is no coincidence that Yolland goes missing on the same evening that the baby dies, as the Lieutenant was the only British soldier who genuinely appreciated and wanted to preserve Irish language and culture. His disappearance the same night as Nellie’s baby’s death, then, further cements the impossibility of saving Gaelic in the face of the British colonial oppression.