My Left Foot

♦ TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION ♦

1.     What difference did physical therapy make for Christy Brown? He did not learn to walk and earn his living as a bricklayer with his brothers, so what value did therapy have in his life?

2.    How did Christy Brown benefit from being part of a large family? What were the positive aspects he found of living with many siblings? What were the positive aspects for his siblings of living with young Christy?

3.     Describe a typical day's activities for Mrs. Brown, during the years she had several children at home. What leisure could she enjoy?

4.    Why did so many of Christy's brothers become bricklayers, like their father? How did this affect their education, job prospects and local community development?

5.    Several young women made deep impressions on Christy. What are some traits these women had in common? Is it surprising to learn that Christy eventually married a nurse?

6.     At the time Christy was born, families often sent their disabled children to live in care homes, or kept them shut away in a back room. Why did Mr. and Mrs. Brown make Christy an active part of their family?

7.     What effect did his pilgrimage to Lourdes have on Christy? Was it a success or a failure? He did not gain an immediate and complete physical healing, nor an instant and lasting peace of mind. What then did he gain?

8.     Was Christy's interest in young women a natural sign of wellness and health, or a delusion which brought him only

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rejection and unnecessary emotional suffering?

9. How can community efforts to minimize physical barriers for differently-abled persons end up helping many able-bodied persons as well?

♦ IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS ♦

1.     What health care options are available for differently-abled children now in your community or country? What difference does this care make for these children? What were the health care options in your community or country for severely physically handicapped children before the 1930s? What health care is available at present for these children in other countries?

2.     What in general are the benefits of having a large family? Is a close genetic relationship necessary for these benefits? What are the disadvantages of having a large family? Do the benefits outweigh the disadvantages? What can families do to incorporate as many of the benefits as possible while minimizing the disadvantages? Is there a role for the extended family and the community in this goal?

3.     What is the role of the nurse in Community Health Care Services? What training and accreditation do nurses need? Are there employment options for nurses, besides acute-care hospitals, in your community? What differences in nursing are necessary when one compares urban communities with rural and isolated areas?

4.     Describe row housing in working-class Dublin in the 1930s and 1940s. What was the population density? How well serviced were the neighborhoods? What options did people living in these neigh-

borhoods have for health care and recreation?

5.     Draw a floor plan of a typical house in row housing in working-class Dublin in the 1930s. How large were the rooms? What was each room used for? How many children would commonly share a bedroom? Would the house be conveniently accessible for a differently-abled person who could only crawl or shuffle on his/her rump? Compare the house to a modern townhouse or subsidized housing in your community.

6.     What is the history of Lourdes? Who are the people who make pilgrimages there? How do these people benefit from their pilgrimages? How does the community of Lourdes accommodate these pilgrims? How does the community benefit from the ongoing pilgrimages? Compare Lourdes to other sites of devotional pilgrimages, such as Lac Sainte Anne in Alberta, Canada.

7.     What is a miracle�by definition and by common usage? What hope can modern people have of miracles in their own lives? Must a miracle be instantaneous, or can its profound nature be revealed subtly or gradually? Can it be argued that Christy Brown experienced miraculous change in his life; and if so, how?

8.    Name a person who has overcome great hardships in her/his life. What goals did this person reach, and what barriers did s/he have to overcome? What aspects of her/his childhood were positive resources for the future? How was this person helped to achieve her/his goals, and by whom?

9.     Research the life of an outstanding Olympic athlete or Nobel Prize laureate. What were the achievements for which this person was celebrated? Can

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you determine how much time or how many years of this person's life was spent in preparation for her/his major accomplishment? What other goals did this person set for him/herself? Did s/ he achieve these goals? Name other life accomplishments that can be credited to this person, such as: a family lite, a secure home, a community of like-minded people, artistic creations, teaching, community service, etc. What do you admire most about this person?

♦ RELATED TITLES/ADAPTATIONS ♦

Readers looking for autobiographical writings by persons living with disabilities could start with The Story of My Life by Helen Keller and pick out other titles from the same shelf in the public library. Books by parents of differently-abled children may also be of interest, such as Karen and With Love from Karen by Marie Killilea. This author in particular describes home life with all her children, not just Karen.

A tendency may be noticed in these books for the differently-abled person to be an intellectual genius. It can take the powers of a genius to communicate in spite of speech and motor impediments, but this is not always so. Some of the books written since 1990 have been written by people who are of average or moderate intelligence; some have been written by the parents of children who are mentally disabled or have never been able to communicate. For those who are intrigued by the fact that Brown often felt more impaired by his speech difficulties than by his physical disabilities, there is the viewpoint to consider of a young woman who had impaired communication and perception. Donna Williams wrote Nobody Nowhere: The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic and an equally astonishing sequel, Somebody Somewhere; Breaking Free from the World of Autism.

My Left Foot is an accessible. book for young people, in part because Christy Brown was so young when he wrote it. It would be worthy to compare it with Little by Little, the autobiography of Jean Little. This famous children's author takes the time to describe her childhood, growing up blind, from a more mature viewpoint than Brown.

Miramax films released an excellent film adaptation of the book My Left Foot in 1989. Directed by Jim Sheridan, with a screenplay by Jim Sheridan and Shane Connaughton, this critically acclaimed film starred Daniel Day-Lewis. Video copies of this film are available from HBO Video in many libraries and in stores, as it is still popular viewing.

♦ FOR FURTHER REFERENCE ♦

Donnelly, Cathleen. "Christy Brown." In Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 14: British Novelists Since I960. Edited by Jay L. Halio. Detroit: Gale, 1982, pp. 147-50. Includes biographical and critical information about Brown and his work.

Kauffmann, Stanley. The New Republic (November 27, 1989). Review of the movie My Left Foot.

Lavery, David. "The Strange Text of My Left Foot." Literature-Film Quarterly (July 1993): 194-96. An unfavorable comparison of Brown's book to the film version, directed by Jim Sheridan.

Obituary of Christy Brown. Newsweek (September 21,1981): 79.

Profile of Christy Brown. Contemporary Authors, Neiv Revisions Series, vol. 72. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999, pp. 126-29. Overview of Brown's life and work.

Paula johanson

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