Introduction: A Navvy Goes to War

Following the outbreak of war Patrick MacGill enlisted in the London Irish Rifles, the 18th battalion of the London Regiment. A young adult in his mid-20s, he brought with him experiences and values that would influence his recollection of wartime experiences. He already had a life narrative that would shape his responses but that in turn would be challenged and changed by the new experiences of being a soldier on active service in France. But what sort of man was he as he entered army life? What values did he espouse? How did he define himself as a man? How important was religion to him? What part did being Irish and working class play in his thinking? And, more specifically, what were his reasons for enlisting and his expectation of army life? Unfortunately, several of these questions cannot be answered directly because of the scarcity of biographical material. Indeed, much of the information about MacGill's pre-war life comes from Children of the Dead End. Despite being subtitled The Autobiography of a Navvy, the central character is the fictional Dermod Flynn, not MacGill. However, that Flynn is a fictionalized version of MacGill is made abundantly clear. ‘Most of my story,’ the reader is told, ‘is autobiographical.’ The narrator ‘merely tell[s] the truth … of things as I have seen them, of people as I have known them, and incidents as one who has taken part in them’. Although there may be some elements of exaggeration, if not outright fiction, in the character of Flynn, the autobiographical narrative that MacGill presents provides the reader with insights into his attitudes and values, which are augmented by his description of other male characters, notably Moleskin Joe. In particular, MacGill's notion of masculinity is revealed.

The masculinity that emerges from the life and times of Dermod Flynn is largely uncomplicated. There is considerable, if unsurprising, emphasis on physical strength, endurance, the ability to face danger but also stoicism. In one of the earliest incidents Flynn strikes his school-teacher, who had pulled him by the ear for not knowing the location of Corsica.