“Cathbad said that if a warrior took up arms that day, his name would endure in Ireland as a byword for heroic deeds, and that stories about him would be told forever. ” (43)

I think that this quote is representative of a very strange and somewhat tragic irony about characters in the Tain and their desire to be remembered.  Although a great deal of the Tain is focused with completing a simple determined purpose, or to living in the short term, this quote reflects Chu Chullain’s desire to be remembered forever.  Of course, there is a massive contrast between most characters not being remembered even past the scope of their short lives and this said ideal.  I think this is representative of both the development of writing in Ireland and with it the notion of permanent remembrance, as well as of a conceptualized degree of materialism and deep concern with the physical world that the Celts were a part of.