The Dancers Dancing is a coming of age story set in an Irish College in Donegal during the summer of 1972. Dhuibhne uses a trio of protagonists, Orla, Aisling and Sandra, who are city girls (Dublin) that come from very different backgrounds. Aisling is beautiful, rich, and middle-class, Sandra is homely, low-class, and cynical, and Orla, the main character, is chubby, self-conscious and deeply embarrassed by her English mother and bricklayer father. The novel touches deftly on many different socio-economic crises in Ireland as well as the “North Question” through the adolescent girl’s interactions and dialogue. The focus of the novel, however, remains the girl’s (esp. Orla’s) journey of self –discovery that all teenagers face when growing up.

Some topics in this essay:
Aisling Sandra, Dancers Dancing, Pauline Jacqueline, Jacqueline Pauline, Ireland West, College Donegal, Irish OOrla, Northerners OA, Irish It’s, Dubliners West, dancers dancing, age story, coming age, coming age story, learn irish,