Brooklyn quotes Flashcards
1
Q
Rose dominance
A
- start ‘sitting at the window of the upstairs living room’ watching Rose walking briskly from work; looks on silently as sister moistens lips
- they depended on Rose.. went to Dublin twice a year, coming back with a new coat and costume
- (when FF comes) Immediately, Eilis thought that her mother might have had a heart attack or fallen down the stairs or that one of her brothers had had an accident in Birmingham
- (father’s funeral) Rose, she recalled, had taken care of everything and she had not been actively involved
- Eilis found the idea that Rose was below the earth surrounded by darkness almost impossible to bear… (thought about) Rose’s way of handling her mother, making her interested in even the smallest detail of Rose’s and Eilis’s lives, as though she too had the same friends, the same interests, the same experiences
- the golf club is going to inaugurate a prize in memory of Rose. It will be given by the lady captain as a special trophy on Lady Captain’s Day for the best score by a lady newcomer to the club. Rose, she says, was always really nice to people who were new to the town.”
- Later, when she decided to go to bed, Eilis passed the door of Rose’s room and thought to enter, to look for the last time at the place where her sister had died, but, although she stopped outside for a second and lowered her eyes in a sort of reverence, she did not open the door.
2
Q
Rose pride
A
- Rose never mentioned that Eilis worked for MK, instead gave her a pale yellow cardigan that she herself had barely worn, insisting it would look better on Eilis, plus some lipstick
- ‘she served Mary Delahunt before me. I turned and walked out’ R
- MK gives them stale bread; ‘What would we do with stale bread? Rose will go mad.’; made breadcrumbs with it and roasted stuffed pork, did not tell Rose where the breadcrumbs came from
- it was easy for Rose to sacrifice herself, as it seemed she was doing something else
- buried the info that he was a plumber deep in the middle of a paragraph, but she was aware that rose would notice it and seize on it
- ‘she decided to carry on playing golf and doing everything. The doctor said that he told her to take it easy, but, even if she had, it might have been the same. I don’t know what to think, Eily. Maybe she was very brave.’
- (Rose handwriting) its clarity and evenness, its sense of supreme self-possession and self confidence.. wondered whether, while writing some of there words, Rose had looked up and sighed and then, through sheer strength of will, steeled herself and carried on writing
- (JL) ‘wasn’t like Daddy, when he died you would think he was alive one minute. Rose was like stone when I saw her, all pale like something from a picture.. I couldn’t believe we were doing that to her, closing her in there and burying her.. I covered my eyes for most of it..
- Rose seemed to be in a sort of dream; it was Rose’s silence that was new to her; it struck her that she had never seen Rose look so beautiful
3
Q
Eilis rose relationship
A
- Eilis was proud of her sister
- Eilis did not tell Rose about her offer of work from Miss Kelly
- Rose won’t be able to have children, Eilis wanted to suggest they change places… Rose was so ready for life
- She wrote to Rose about him, sending the letter to the office, but did not mention him in letters to her mother or to her brothers.. when rose replied she asked what he did for a living.. buried the info that he was a plumber deep in the middle of a paragraph, but she was aware that rose would notice it and seize on it
- once the others became used to the idea that she was dating Tony, they refrained from giving her further warning or advice about him. She wished that rose would do the same.. In her letters to her mother she still did not mention him
4
Q
Mother’s role
A
- ‘What about me?’ mother asked ‘She’ll tell you the story when she gets home.’
- She thinks one of us might be able to help, but we can’t, you know. Work beyond is not like that.. She wants you to come home. She’s never slept a night on her own in the house and she keeps saying that she won’t be able to
- Eilis found the idea that Rose was below the earth surrounded by darkness almost impossible to bear… (thought about) Rose’s way of handling her mother, making her interested in even the smallest detail of Rose’s and Eilis’s lives, as though she too had the same friends, the same interests, the same experiences
- She was sad that she had to wear plain flat shoes, as her feet hurt her now and swelled up if there was any heat or if she had to walk too far. She was going to wear a grey silk blouse that had belonged to Rose not only, she said, because she liked it but because Rose had loved it and it would be nice at Nancy’s wedding to wear something that Rose had loved.
- Eilis noticed, moved slowly, with an air of pride and dignity, not looking to her left or her right, fully aware that she was being watched and fully enjoying the spectacle that she and Eilis, soon to be joined by Jim Farrell, were making in the church.
- ” She stopped for a moment and Eilis noticed a look of great weariness come over her. “And then I’m going to bed because I’m tired and so I won’t see you in the morning. So I’ll say goodbye now.”
5
Q
Eilis relationship with mother
A
- In her letters to her mother Eilis had never once mentioned him.. She wished now that she had made one or two casual references to him six months ago.. She found that she postponed doing this every time she tried
- Eilis wondered if her mother had always had this way of speaking that seemed to welcome no reply, and suddenly realized that she had seldom been alone with her before, she had always had Rose to stand between her and her mother
- her mother’s letter was short and there was no news in it… Rose wrote about golf and work and how quiet and dull the town was and how lucky Eilis was to be in the bright lights
- He is, Mammy. He’s from Brooklyn.”
Her mother sighed and put her hand out, holding the table as though she needed support. She nodded her head slowly. - “Eily, you’re not to cry. If you made a decision to marry someone, then he’d have to be very nice and kind and very special. I’d say he’s all that, is he?”
“He is, Mammy.”
“Well, that’s a match, then, because you’re all of those things as well. And I’ll miss you. But he must be missing you too.” - But there had been something, she thought, so steely and implacable about her mother’s insistence that she wanted to say goodbye only once that Eilis knew it would be pointless now to ask for her blessing or whatever it was she wanted from her before she left this house
- She could imagine her mother listening as the wardrobe door was opened and hangers with clothes on them were pulled off the rail. She imagined her mother tensely following her as her footsteps crossed the room.
- she was tempted to carry up a tray with tea and biscuits or sandwiches to her mother; her mother’s door remained closed and there was not a sound from the room
6
Q
Eilis striving to fill roles
A
- Eilis found she could do an imitation of MK’s voice that made them laugh; Jack used to do imitations of Sunday Sermons
- Even if they already had watched - and she knew Martin wore her father’s watch - these could serve them if the old ones broke or had to be repaired
- (asked to do a favour by MK) ‘Of course I would, Mrs Kehoe’ It was something her mother had taught her to say if anyone asked her to do them a favour.
- Since Jack had left, Eilis has moved into the boys’ room
7
Q
Lack of communication in family
A
- It was somehow tacitly arranged that she would go to America; mother had been so opposed to her going to England
- Rose never mentioned that Eilis worked for MK, instead gave her a pale yellow cardigan that she herself had barely worn, insisting it would look better on Eilis, plus some lipstick
- (before departure) house…almost unnaturally happy.. too much talk and laughter… doing everything to hide their feelings
- In her letters to her mother Eilis had never once mentioned him.. She wished now that she had made one or two casual references to him six months ago.. She found that she postponed doing this every time she tried
- She was, in fact, making work for herself so that she would not have to turn
- Maybe, she thought, they had never known her, any of them, because if they had, then they would have had to realize what this would be like for her
- Her mother’s voice was soft and low and reassuring, but Eilis could see from the look in her eyes how much effort she was putting into saying as little as possible of what she felt.
- “I’d rather say goodbye now and only once.” Her voice had grown determined.
- “And you’ll write to me about him when you get back?” she asked eventually. “You’ll tell me all the news?”
“I’ll write to you about him as soon as I get back,” Eilis said. - “If I say any more, I’ll only cry. So I’ll go down to Dempsey’s and arrange the car for you,” her mother said as she walked out of the room in a way that was slow and dignified and deliberate.
- She almost wished her mother had been angry with her, or had even expressed disappointment. Her response had made Eilis feel that the very last thing in the world she wanted to do now was spend the evening alone packing her suitcases in silence with her mother listening from her bedroom.
8
Q
Bound by performance
A
- (before departure) house…almost unnaturally happy.. too much talk and laughter… doing everything to hide their feelings
- she would keep how she felt from herself if she had to until she was away from them… so that they could remember her smiling
- mother starts to cry, instead of following her out into the hallway, Eilis continues with small talk, hoping that mother could soon return and they could resume what seemed like an ordinary conversation
- it was easy for Rose to sacrifice herself, as it seemed she was doing something else
- ‘And I said when your daddy died that I shouldn’t cry too much… but I have no one at all now Eily, I have no one
- Eilis allowed Miss Fortini to explain it to her carefully, as though she had never seen anything like it before… Eilis did not tell Miss Fortini that she never made mistakes when she did addition
9
Q
Insularity of town
A
- the whole town, anyone who is anyone comes into the shop and I hear everything
- What was happening now, she hoped, was something that her mother had never even imagined (journey)… she would never be able to tell anyone how sick she felt
- no one in Ireland knew that America was the coldest place on earth and its peaople on a cold morning like this the most deeply miserable… They would not believe it if she put it in a letter
- if she told Nancy or Annette about her own secret wedding… they would respond with solence and bewilderment. It would seem too strange
- Miss Kelly seemed to be enjoying herself; Eilis could think of no way of stopping her.
It was clear to Eilis that Miss Kelly had prepared every word of what she was saying. The idea that the man who had taken the photograph in Cush, a figure Eilis barely remembered and had never seen before, had been in Miss Kelly’s shop talking about her and that this news was conveyed to Mrs. Kehoe in Brooklyn suddenly made her afraid
10
Q
Bound by tradition and societal norms
A
- people came to MK’s out of habit, and they did not mind waiting, they enjoyed the crush of the crowd
- ‘We must look mad’
- Her mother wrote back wondering how Mrs Kehoe could afford to keep the heating on all night
- mainly interested in clothes and shoes… fashions and new trends were her daily topic, although she was too old for some of the colours and styles
- ‘that old Mrs Sheridan is very noble. I wouldn’t have any time for her at all’ Mum
- if she told Nancy or Annette about her own secret wedding… they would respond with solence and bewilderment. It would seem too strange
- And I hear that the parents are moving out to Glenbrien where she’s from, to a house that her aunt left her. The father loves horses, he’s a great man for the races, and he is going to have horses out there, or so I heard. And Jim is getting the whole place.”
“He’ll miss them so,” Eilis said. “Because they run the pub when he wants to go out.”
“Oh, it’ll be all very gradual, I’d say,” her mother replied.
11
Q
Importance of work
A
- George Sheridan was a dream Nancy did not wish to wake from
- These shopkeepers, all they have is a few yards of counter and they have to sit there all day waiting for customers. I don’t know why they think so highly of themselves
- (Rose) would imagine him to be somewhat rough and awkward and use bad grammar. Eilis decided to write to her to say that in Brooklyn it was not always as easy to guess someone’s character by their job as it was in Enniscorthy
- (letter to Rose) this was a different world and in this world Tony shone despite the fact that his family lived in two rooms or that he worked with his hands…. she had made it sounds as though she were pleasing of him, instead of merely trying to explain that he was special
12
Q
Bound by performance
A
- Father flood will eat whatever we give him - Rose (everyone else concerned, mother brings out best china)
- She was, in fact, making work for herself so that she would not have to turn
- (before departure) house…almost unnaturally happy.. too much talk and laughter… doing everything to hide their feelings
- ‘It’s not that I’m honest or anything, I just know I’d get caught
- dressed impeccably, loved discussing skin care and different types of skin and problems.. had her hair done on a Saturday, so it would be perfect for the rest of the week
- (in letters) nothing that sounded like anyone’s own voice
- (letter to Rose) this was a different world and in this world Tony shone despite the fact that his family lived in two rooms or that he worked with his hands…. she had made it sounds as though she were pleasing of him, instead of merely trying to explain that he was special
- Everything he did now, every word he said and every move he made, seemed deliberate, restrained and well thought out, done so as not to irritate her or appear to be moving too fast
- she was more refined than before, taking the solemnity of the waiter’s manners seriously, whereas a few years earlier she would have raised her eyes to heaven at his pomposity, or said something casual and friendly to him. Soon, Eilis thought, she would be Mrs. George Sheridan and that would count for something in the town. She was beginning to play the role with relish.
- Being collected by Jim Farrell, she thought, would be for her mother the highlight of everything that had happened since Eilis came home.
- Eilis saw that Mags Lawton next door had appeared and was waving. She stood at the door waiting for Jim to come back with the umbrella but did not return Mags’s wave or encourage her to make any comment. Just as she closed the door and went towards the car, Eilis saw two other doors opening and knew that, much to her mother’s delight, news would spread that Eilis and her mother in all their style had been collected by Jim Farrell.
- Eilis noticed, moved slowly, with an air of pride and dignity, not looking to her left or her right, fully aware that she was being watched and fully enjoying the spectacle that she and Eilis, soon to be joined by Jim Farrell, were making in the church
.- It struck her as almost funny that every time her mother put a morsel of food into her mouth she looked over to check that Eilis was still there and Jim Farrell firmly to her right and that they seemed to be having an agreeable time. George Sheridan’s mother, she saw, looked like an elderly duchess who had been left with nothing except a large hat, some old jewellery and her immense dignity. - She felt sad, she thought, and maybe that was enough–to come here and let Rose’s spirit know how much she was missed. But she could not cry or say anything. She stood at the grave for as long as she could and then walked away, feeling the sharpest grief as she was actually leaving the graveyard itself and walking towards Summerhill and the Presentation Convent
-Miss Kelly’s tone was almost skittish; it was, Eilis thought, as though she were doing an imitation of herself
13
Q
Avoidance of conflict
A
- (homesick) lived a set of vivid dreams, letting them linger… she remembered how much the neighbours dreaded the day when the court sat… sometimes the court ordered children to be taken into care.. but her dream had no screaming women, just a group of silent children, Eilis among them, standing in a line, knowing that they would soon be led away on the orders of the judge.. She had felt no fear of it. Her fear, instead, was of seeing her mother in front of the courthouse. IN her dream she found a way of avoiding her mother.
- (before departure) house…almost unnaturally happy.. too much talk and laughter… doing everything to hide their feelings
- She did not know if the other two also realized that this was the first time they had laughed at this table since Jack had followed the others to Birmingham. She would have loved to say something about him, but she knew that it would make her mother too sad. Even when a letter came from him it was passed around in silence
14
Q
Bound by home
A
- she could not have (used a posessed tone) in the town or in a place where any of her family or friends might have seen he
15
Q
Belonging to home
A
- (during sale) there were times when she thought in a lash of an early evening in October walking with her mother down by the prom in Enniscorthy, the Slaney River glassy and full, the daylight going slowly and gently, the smell of burnt leaves nearby. This scene kept coming to her as she filled the bag with natoes and coins
- as she read them, she forgot for a moment where she was and she could picture her mother in the kitchen taking her Basildon Bond notepad and setting out to write a proper letter with nothing crossed out… Rose might have gone into the dining room to write on paper she had token home from work, using a more longer, elegant white envelope than her mother had
- she had not really thought of home.. the town had come to her in flashing pictures… the life she had lost and would never have again she had kept out of her mind… every day she had gone over everything new that had happened.Now all that seemed lke nothing compared to the picture she had of home
- the rooms in the house on Friary street belonged to her, when she moved in them she was really there… it was all solid and part of her
- She was flying, as though in a balloon, over the calm sea on a calm day. Below, she could see the cliffs at Cush Gap and the soft sand at Ballyconnigar. The wind was propelling her towards Blackwater, then the Ballagh, then Monageer, then Vinegar Hill and Enniscorthy
- Eilis noted the house’s solid, familiar aura, the lingering smell of cooked food, the shadows, the sense of her mother’s vivid presence
- they saw that the sea below them was calm, almost smooth. The sand close to the water’s edge was a dark yellow. There was a line of sea birds flying low over the waves, which seemed barely to swell before they broke quietly, almost noiselessly. There was a vague mist that masked the line between the horizon and the sky but otherwise the sky was a pure blue.
16
Q
Changing concept of home
A
- sometimes she actually believed that she was loooking forward to thinking about home, when it come to her with a jolt that, no, the feeling she had was only about Friday night and being collected from the house by a man she had met
- had been keeping the thought of home out of her mind
- She thought it was strange that the mere sensation of savouring the prospect of something could make her think for a while that it must be the prospect of home
- (whispers that he loves her) she found herself pulling away from him… his expecting a reply frightened her, made her feel that she would have to accept that this was the only life she was going to have, a life spent away from home
- Miss Murphys from Arklow ‘We’re the ones with no home to go to’ she said and smiled
- all morning she went through each moment of Rose’s death and her removal
- (Jack’s letter) ‘I’m writing this in the front parlour at the table by the window’
- and she realized, almost with a start, that she had not written to him as she had intended. She looked at the two envelopes, at his handwriting, and she stood in the room with the door closed wondering how strange it was that everything about him seemed remote. And not only that, but everything else that had happened in Brooklyn seemed as though it had almost dissolved and was no longer richly present for her…She went through all of it as though she were trying to recover what had seemed so filled with detail, so solid, just a few weeks before.
17
Q
Incogruence of home with new life
A
her mother had not asked her one question about her time in America, or even her trip home
- She had planned to show her mother the letter from Brooklyn College.. also bought her mother a cardigan and scarf and some stocking, but her mother had almost absent-mindedly left them aside, saying that she would open them later (LIKE EILIS WITH TONY’S LETTERS)
- She wished now that she had not married him, not because she did not love him and intend to return to him, but because not telling her mother or her friends made every day she had spent in America a sort of fantasy, something she could not match with the time she was spending at home. It made her feel strangely as though she were two people, one who had battled against two cold winters and many hard days in Brooklyn and fallen in love there, and the other who was her mother’s daughter, the Eilis whom everyone knew, or thought they knew.
- She would have done anything then, as Nancy and George walked down the aisle together, to join the side of sweetness, certainty and innocence, knowing she could begin her life without feeling that she had done something foolish and hurtful
18
Q
Cocoons
A
- Eilis loved closing the dorr of her old room and drawing the curtains
- she had been away from Tony, far away, basking in the ease of what had suddenly become familiarity.
- This was the work she had been dreaming about as she had stood on the shop floor in Bartocci’s
- And two years ago, Eilis remembered, when Jim Farrell had been openly rude to her, she thought it was because she came from a family that did not own anything in the town. Now that she was back from America, she believed, she carried something with her, something close to glamour, which made all the difference to her as she sat with Nancy watching the men talk.
- She knew that she was being watched and commented on by people from the town, especially when the tempo of the music was fast and it was clear that she and Jim were good dancers, but also later, when the lights went down and the music was slow and they danced close to each other.
- The idea that she would leave all of this–the rooms of the house once more familiar and warm and comforting–and go back to Brooklyn and not return for a long time again frightened her now.
- Eilis loved closing the dorr of her old room and drawing the curtains
- Until now, Eilis had always presumed that she would live in the town all her life… and then marry someone and give up the job and have children
- (tony family visti) she explained that when she finished she would be a bookeeper… As Eilis and Tony’s mother discussed this, none of the boys spoke or looked up from their food. She realized that she would love to run out of this room and down the stairs and through the streets to the subway to her own room and close the door on the world
19
Q
Restrictions to freedom in America
A
- the waves were stronger than at home, not so much in the way they broke but in the way they pulled out.. She realized that she would have to be careful not to swim too far out of her depth in this unfamiliar sea
- Eilis was amused at how tight and flimsy their swimming togs were. No American man would be seen on a beach in anything like that, she thought. Nor would two men in Coney Island move as unself-consciously as these two did, seeming not to be alert at all to the two women watching them as they ran awkwardly ahead, keeping close to the hard sand at the water’s edge.
20
Q
Eilis insecurity
A
- worried about carrying two suitcases
- discovered that the people on the other side had locked the door… Georgina would know what to do, as would her mother or Rose. But she had no idea what to do
- felt like she had done something wrong, that it was somehow her fault (journey)
- The way the couples who danced were dressed was to her eyes so fashionable and so right. She knew that it was something she would never be able to do.
- In Bartocci’s she had learnt to be brave and decisive, but once she herself was a customer she knew that she was too hesitant and slow
- ‘Do I look terrible?’ ‘Oh yes, and so does every other person on this boat
21
Q
Eilis passivity
A
- ‘Go home now like a good girl’
- Eilis felt like a child when the doctor would come to the house
22
Q
Lack of worldliness
A
- ‘Go home now like a good girl’
- Eilis felt like a child when the doctor would come to the house
23
Q
Filling roles of other as empowerment
A
- She found herself thanking him in a tone that Rose might have used… a tone used by a woman in full possession of herself
- (responding to FF finding her a course)’ I’m very grateful to you’ She used a tone that she had heard her mother use, which was very dry and formal. She knew that FF could not tell whether she meant what she said or not
- (when invited to refuse to eat with Dolores) Eilis felt an urge to close the door on their faces and go back to her books. Eilis looked at both of them as though they were nuisance customers in Bartocci’s and she was Miss Fortini
- (attempting to separate from Kehoe) Eilis stood up straight, attempting to make herself taller and stared coldly at Mrs Kehoe… her last remark carried with it the firm idea that she and Eilis stood apart from the other lodgers.. this was a piece of gross assumption… ‘It’s always better to be honest’ she said, imitating Rose when rose found her dignity or sense of proprietry challenged in any way.. she looked at Kehoe not flinching
- In the morning it was hard not to think that she was Rose’s ghost, being fed and spoken to in the same way at the same time by her mother, having her clothes admired using the same words as were used with Rose, and then setting out briskly for work. As she took the same route Eilis had to stop herself walking with Rose’s elegant, determined walk, and move more slowly.
- she could appear humble before him and imply an abject apology even if she did not admit everything, or she could model herself on Rose, stand up now as Rose might have and speak to FF as though she were entirely incapable of any wrongdoing.. She knew it was important to speak now before he did…. held his gaze and left enough silence for him to know that she had understood the implications of his words but had no intention of giving him any further concessions
- Eilis’s costume, which she had bought in Arnotts in Dublin, had had to be altered, as the skirt and the sleeves were too long. It was bright red and with it she was wearing a white cotton blouse with accessories she had brought from America–stockings with a tinge of red, red shoes, a red hat and a white handbag. Her mother was going to wear a grey tweed suit that she had bought in Switzers (She watched Rose crossing the street from sunlight into shade, carrying the new leather handbag that she had bought in Clerys in Dublin in the sale. ) (She wrote to her mother and Rose about Miss Bartocci’s flaring red costume and white plain blouse, her red high-heeled shoes, her hair, which was shiny black and perfect. Her lipstick was bright red and her eyes were the blackest Eilis had ever seen.)
24
Q
Moments of transition
A
- They seemed to be making progress only with great difficulty, almost banging against something hard and forceful that attempted to withstand their progress… The people on the other side must have known how rough the night was going to be.. deep in the belly of the ship
- poured some of the perfume that Rose had given her on the parts on the floor and the blankets where she had vomited
- every moment of it was absolutely real, totally solid and part of her waking life
- She imagined for a while that she herself was the sea outside, pushing hard to resist the weight and force of the liner
- ‘I almost never wear make-up at home’… ‘Well, you’re about to enter the land of the free and the brave’
- (after confessing homesickness) She felt almost strong as she contemplated what had just happened. No matter who came into the room now, she would be able to elicit their sympathy… whatever darkness she felt had not lifted.. but she would keep her job, and she had achieved that much and it gave her a feeling of satisfaction that appeared to melt into her sadness, or float on its surface, distracting her, at least for now
- determined shewould buy something, even just new shoes, which would make her feel more like the girls she had seen dancing… she decided that no matter what she would never go to a dance with SH and MM again
- Suddenly, Eilis decided she would stand up and walk over towards their group, smiling confidently at them all, as though they were old friends.
- (Patty shows Eilis how to put on eye makeup in parish hall dance bathroom, put her hair up for her) ‘Now you look like a ballet dancer…. Well, at least you don’t look like you’ve just come in from milking the cows any more’ (had same perception of Dolores)
25
Q
Slf-posession
A
- made her voice sound as weak as she could (journey)
- Eilis allowed Miss Fortini to explain it to her carefully, as though she had never seen anything like it before… Eilis did not tell Miss Fortini that she never made mistakes when she did addition
- (after confessing homesickness) She felt almost strong as she contemplated what had just happened. No matter who came into the room now, she would be able to elicit their sympathy… whatever darkness she felt had not lifted.. but she would keep her job, and she had achieved that much and it gave her a feeling of satisfaction that appeared to melt into her sadness, or float on its surface, distracting her, at least for now
- she would have to make a decision to lift herself out of whatever it was that was affecting her
- As soon as Mrs Kehoe appeared with tea things on a tray, Eilis clenched her fist when she felt that she was ready to begin
- (attempting to separate from Kehoe) Eilis stood up straight, attempting to make herself taller and stared coldly at Mrs Kehoe… her last remark carried with it the firm idea that she and Eilis stood apart from the other lodgers.. this was a piece of gross assumption… ‘It’s always better to be honest’ she said, imitating Rose when rose found her dignity or sense of proprietry challenged in any way.. she looked at Kehoe not flinching
- (talking to Rosenblum) She was surprised at herself, that she had not stammered. She did not even think she was blushing
- (after Sheila disses AAs) Eilis suddenly felt brave
- ‘I think we have to be very careful about men we don’t know coming into the hall’ SH ‘Maybe if we got rid of some of the wallflowers, Sheila with the sour looks on their faces’
- insisting to Maria that she would not need any help
- proud that she did not break down
- (sex in house) In the realm of the unthinkable… determined to deny emphatically and brazenly that Tony had been near her room at all
- Eilis nodden coldly at Jim and sat as far away from him as she could
- If this had been years ago, Eilis thought, she would have worried during the entire journey from Enniscorthy about her swimsuit and its tyle, about whether she was too unshapely or awkward on the beach, or what George and Jim would think of her… she felt oddly confident.. wasing out and then, as the first high wave approached, swimming into it as it broke and then out beyond it
26
Q
Disconnection from home/connection to Brooklyn
A
- with all the excitement and discussion surrounding the nylon sale… the minute she came back from work every day she had checked the side table.. she could not believe that she had forgoteen to check this evening
- (while homesick) She noticed the cold in the air for the first time; it seemed to her that the weather had changed. But it hardly mattered now what the weather was like… she had left herself too short a time to get to work
- (after confessing homesickness) She felt almost strong as she contemplated what had just happened. No matter who came into the room now, she would be able to elicit their sympathy… whatever darkness she felt had not lifted.. but she would keep her job, and she had achieved that much and it gave her a feeling of satisfaction that appeared to melt into her sadness, or float on its surface, distracting her, at least for now
- (FF said MM could walk her home) eilis said no, she was used to walking home alone.. she set out to walk through the dark, empty streets of Brooklyn
- (after getting room) a biting wind that was new to her… no one in Ireland knew that America was the coldest place on earth and its peaople on a cold morning like this the most deeply miserable.. They would not believe it if she put it in a letter
- ‘No more tears’ she said quietly
- (room) seem luxurious, like something from a painting or an old photograph… It had none of the functional Spartan aura of her room
- She would look carefully at what other women at the dance were wearing and make sure next time that she did not look too plain… Her dress which Rose had helped her buy also looked terrible
- sometimes she actually believed that she was loooking forward to thinking about home, when it come to her with a jolt that, no, the feeling she had was only about Friday night and being collected from the house by a man she had met
- since she had seen every new movie she always had something to talk about
- She thought it was strange that the mere sensation of savouring the prospect of something could make her think for a while that it must be the prospect of home
- some of the girls were leaving until… she and a few other were the most experienced and trusted on the shop floor
- cheered for the Dodgers as much as anyone around her… she ordered a beer too, her first ever, and tried to run the mustard and ketchup along the hot dog with the same flourish as Tony and Frank
- (FF finding out about sex) If he did not raise the subject, she thought, she could talk about her mother and maybe even discuss the possibility of moving into the office at Bartocci’s
- She was glad she did not have to write now from her bedroom, which seemed empty of life, which almost frightened her in how little it meant to her… she had expected coming home would be easy.. all she could do was count the days before she went back.. This made her feel strand and guilty
- Eilis was almost inclined to giggle at names she had not heard of, or thought of, during her time in America… ‘God, is she still going?’ Her mother looked sorrowful and put on her glasses agin as she began to search for a letter she had mislaid from the captain of the golf club saying what a treasured lady-member Rose had been. When she found it, she looked at Eilis severely
27
Q
Change of perception of Brooklyn
A
- (baseball fever) What surprised her was that she had noticed nothing of it the previous year although it must have been going on around her with the same intensity
- It was still bright and the air was warm… It was something that had seemed unimaginable in the winter
- Eilis had planned to give an account of how much more smooth the crossing from NY to Cobh had been than her first voyage from Liverpool and how much she had enjoyed sitting up on deck taking in the sun
28
Q
Change of perception of Enniscorthy
A
- Miss Kelly led her up a dark stairway to the living room, which looked onto the street but seemed almost as dark as the stairwell and had, Eilis thought, too much furniture in it. Miss Kelly pointed to a chair covered in newspapers.
“Put those on the floor and sit down,” she said.
Miss Kelly sat opposite her on a faded-looking leather armchair.
“So how are you getting on?” she asked.
“Very well, thanks, Miss Kelly.”
- Miss Kelly’s tone was almost skittish; it was, Eilis thought, as though she were doing an imitation of herself
- occured to Eilis that she did not want to anyone to see Eilis who might invite her out or cause her to leave her mother’s side at any point
- She says I’m to make sure and bring you back with me now.”
“Now?” Eilis asked, laughing.
29
Q
Change in how other perceieve her
A
- ..must look glamorous in these streets
- ‘Sure the whole town knows you’re here… you’d better wear sensible clothes. Nothing too American now’ mother
- Eilis observed other diners glancing over at them as though they were the most important people in the restaurant
- “You have changed,” Nancy said. “You look different. Everything about you is different, not for those who know you, but for people in the town who only know you to see.”
“What’s changed?”
“You seem more grown up and serious. And in your American clothes you look different. You have an air about you
