Passivity versus RebellionThe Irish Famine is a controversial debate, addressing the response to the misdeeds of the English government. The debate concerns whether the English government should be held responsible for the hunger and suffering of the Irish. Liam O'Flaherty contributes to this debate through his novel Famine; in it he defines who is responsible for the hunger of the 1840s. Through his portrayal, he suggests that the best response to alleviating the problem of famine is to rebel against the English government. In the novel there are characters who choose to live passively and fail to achieve prosperity, while those who rebel achieve it. O'Flaherty presents three Kilmartin generations, in which we witness differences in character traits and beliefs. For example, Martin Kilmartin, second generation, takes on the role of a rebel and chooses to challenge the Black Valley tycoon, Chadwick. Advocating an aggression-based solution to justice, O'Flaherty identifies survivors as rebels and famine victims as pacifists. Furthermore, in his novel, O'Flaherty suggests that the best response to the Irish famine is through aggression. Furthermore, the drastic change in Martin's character is O'Flaherty's strategy of revealing a cause and effect situation. For example, at the beginning of the novel, Martin was described as a coward for not having the courage to contradict his father's ways. To being admired by the residents of Black Valley, for his courageous act of challenging Chadwick. O'Flaherty portrays Martin as a representative of the Irish. He describes Martin as passive but with the potential to rebel to meet justice. Through Martin, O'Flaherty tries to get a point across: it's never late to fight for... half the paper... even if food starts to run low and she hasn't heard from her husband. . Although Killmartin's older generation adopted a pessimistic response to the famine, they chose to remain passive and had no motivation to fight for survival. Although Mary was slowly weakening from hunger, she managed to remain positive, waiting for her husband's return. On the other hand, Martin's father, Bryan Kilmartin, is against the idea of ​​emigrating to America and leaving his homeland. Bryan Kilmartin experiences famine in a sense of denial, believing that the plague will soon disappear, he says: “God does not send hunger for a long time. He sends him to remind us of our sins…” (O'Flaherty 295) Because of his patriotism, Bryan refuses to emigrate from his country and fight for survival; he would rather starve than betray his country and leave it during its troubles.