Why does the Empire State pretend to not celebrate Columbus Day? You light up as the Italian flag

Well written and would largely agree! Even deeper it made me think of rural Ireland generally, feelings of being left behind by the world, poor rural communities that are too comfortable/afraid to leave, and drink themselves away with small pubs and trad music.

The policeman is definitely “the Catholic Church” aka “the law”

“Colm and Pádraic’s fighting is a metaphor for the Irish Civil War. Through their in-fighting, they destroyed themselves. Colm destroyed his fingers, rendering him unable to do the one thing he loved, playing music. Pádraic destroyed his chance at a better life by letting his grief and need for revenge get in the way of accepting his sister’s offer to come to the mainland. The two men are momentarily at a ceasefire, but, as Pádraic implies, will likely fight again soon.”

Basically this is about two factions of Irish politicians (and then armies) in the 20s who fought each other post early independence. They disagreed on how much influence London should have on Irish life. I took the fingers plot to suggest that at least one faction in the civil war was willing to hurt themselves to make a point (terrorism etc), illustrating the banality of the civil war. “I’d rather chop my own fingers off than compromise” etc.

Gold I think, as more dense