Essays

Question 1

Brooklyn is about the liberation of women in a patriarchal world. Discuss.

Answer 1

Brooklyn is about the limits imposed on change and liberation by the society we are confined to.

Para 1 – liberation/growth in sexual capital and freedom

Para 2 – limits to the liberation of women

Para 2 – limits to personal growth in agency and emotional expression

Question 2

“Brooklyn changes every day” In what way is Brooklyn a novel about change?

Answer 2

Brooklyn is a novel about the ways in which we must adapt in order to survive, but also about the limits which are imposed on our growth by society.

Para 1 – personal change/adaptation

Para 2 – generational growth and need for progressive attitudes

Para 3 – limits to personal growth in agency and emotional expression due to society and fear

Question 3

Eilis doesn’t look for freedom and opportunity, but they find her anyway. Discuss.

Answer 3

Because Eilis is too afraid of conflict to challenge the barriers imposed on her growth by society, the freedom and opportunity that she unwittingly finds are contained within the barriers of what is permissible by the society of her time.

Para 1 –fear of conflict is stronger than her desire to grow

Para 2 – expanded freedom and opportunity through the need to adapt to the conditions of Brooklyn

Para 3 – freedom and opportunity contained by role of women in Brooklyn society and the need to conform to societal standards

Question 4

Eilis passivity prevents her from living the life she really wants. Discuss

Answer 4

Toibin explores the ways in which the passivity that springs from a reluctance to make decisions contains the opportunities open to individuals within the barriers imposed by society. This reluctance is portrayed as a product of the longing individuals have for unattainable ideals, which drives them to avoid making choices in order to mitigate the effect of harsh reality on their idealised desires.

Para 1 – passivity prevents from growing outside the confines of female role

Para 2 – the life she really wants is unattainable, because she constantly idealises the ‘other’

• Home
• Rose
• Windows

Para 3 – the idealistic nature of our desires leads to a passivity and inability to express our true self and strive for what we really want to

• Doesn’t want to break ‘home’ ideal, leads to duplitious nature and pain
• Can’t break ideal of ‘perfect family’, leads to emotional repression “almost smiled”
• Womanly role, miss fortini, Eilis working

Question 5

Is society to blame for Eilis Lacey’s troubles in ‘Brooklyn’?

Answer 5

The susceptibility of individuals to strive for unattainable ideals and therefore bind themselves to passivity is what causes the conflicts Eilis faces.

Para 1 – she is bound by what society expects of her; leads to conflict between dual selves

Para 2 – her passivity is what causes her to remain within the confines of society, as she is too afraid to challenge the role defined for her

Para 3 – this passivity stems from her need to strive for unattainable ideals

Question 6

Place is central to person in ‘Brooklyn’. Discuss.

Answer 6

Place both develops our identity and reflects it.

Para 1 – forms dual identity through adaptation to the environment

Para 2 – perception reflects identity

Para 3 – place reflects global shift

Question 7

What reasons does Eilis have to feel like a ghost in ‘Brooklyn’

Answer 7

Toibin explores the complex relationship between migration and belonging, positing that the loss of belonging causes individuals to lose their identity

Para 1 – identity tied to place; loses it

Para 2 – relationship connections enable her to regain some belonging

Para 3 – unable to ever truly feel at home due to home being an unattainable ideal (home = childhood, passivity, no need to make decisions?)

Question 8

For the Irish migration is a painful experience

Answer 8

Toibin shows migration as an experience that can bring both pain and renewal.

Para 1 – national loss and regret of those left behind

Para 2 – loss of self and idealised expectations

Para 3 – migration can bring individual and generational growth through adaptation

Question 9

Brooklyn is at heart a coming-of-age novel

Answer 9

Brooklyn is a novel about the consequences of refusing to come of age.

Para 1 – some growth in order to belong

Para 2 – seeks to maintain her infantilism by not making decisions

Para 3 – Toibin condemns individuals who let their choices be guided by others

Question 10

Eilis finally comes to terms with “the life she had lost and would never have again”. Do you agree?

Answer 10

Eilis is never able to fully abandon her longing for the unattainable ideal of a home where she is again able to be a child.

Para 1 – is able to find some belonging in Brooklyn

Para 2 – slips into her old life to avoid confrontation/regain sense of being a child

Para 3 – “the life she has lost” is that of a child who does not have to make decisions, doesn’t come to terms with his

Question 11

It is the past that is a “terrible weight” in Brooklyn

Answer 11

Letting go of childhood in favour of an adulthood of agency and opportunity is a “terrible weight”

Para 1 – identity tied up with place; losing it is a terrible weight

Para 2 – sense of duty to family is terrible weight

Para 3 – this sense of duty is however simply an expression of the childhood Eilis has lost; this infantile identity is what causes her feeling of loss

Question 12

Both America and Ireland are shown to have their freedoms and restrictions

Answer 12

Toibin suggests that society will always impose some limits on the growth of individual, with the twin societies serving as microcosms of the shifting world order of the 1950s. However, the freedoms and restrictions that individuals are allowed stem not only from the nature of the society they find themselves in but their personal relationship with these places.

Para 1 – growth limited in scope by society; shifts in different places; role of women

Para 2 – America brings greater freedom due to rise of consumerism and progressive societal values, but this modernity comes with drawbacks

Para 3 – the freedoms individuals can experience in any society are defined by their relationships

Question 13

In ‘Brooklyn’, life’s decisions are complex, with no right answers

Answer 13

There is an initial sense of moral ambiguity about the decisions of individuals in Brooklyn – ultimately, however, Toibin condemns those who allow their life’s decisions to be made by others.
Para 1 – Brooklyn acknowledges that the decisions we make are nuanced

Para 2 – When decisions are complex, it can be tempting to let other make them for us

Para 3 – Toibin condemns this, demonstrating how it leads to pain for those involved

Question 14

The real failing of the characters in Brooklyn is a failure to communicate

Answer 14

The real failing of the characters in Brooklyn is a longing for an unattainable ideal, from whence stem other issues such as their failure to communicate.

Para 1 – failure to communicate leads to others making your decisions for you

Para 2 – failure to communicate stems from a reluctance to make your own decisions and take agency

Para 3 – this reluctance to make decisions springs from the desire to maintain or reach an unattainable ideal

Question 15

Eilis is Brooklyn’s protagonist, but is she a heroine?

Answer 15

Eilis is a vehicle through which Toibin condemns those who let their life be guided by unattainable ideals and therefore fall prey to passivity and emotional repression.

Para 1 – Individuals grow within the confines of their society

Para 2 – When we strive to maintain or reach an unattainable ideal, we paralyse ourselves into indecision, and others make our decisions for us

Para 3 – this leads to pain and conflict

Question 16

Brooklyn places responsibility to self above responsibility to others

Answer 16

Brooklyn shows the negative consequences of placing duty to others above your responsibility to yourself, condemning those who do so. However, it simultaneously acknowledges that it is impossible for individuals to abandon their responsibilities to society without losing their belonging.

Para 1 – submitting to the wishes of others may simply be a way of keeping your responsibility to yourself

Para 2 – doing this leads to pain and conflict

Para 3 – maintaining some responsibility to others, even if it is a way of shielding yourself from the need to take agency, results in being able to function effectively in society

Question 17

How does Toibin convey a sense of divided loyalty in Brooklyn?

Answer 17

Para 1 – our environment forms our identity; therefore, the migration experience results in a division of self and thus a division of loyalty – must reject Irish self in order to belong; structural division of the novel; her cocoon like mentality in Enniscorthy

Para 2 – moral ambiguity of her decisions – everything she does seems to be motivated by wanting the best for others, but leads to pain – shows the impossibility to remaining master of two worlds; third person limited perspective

Para 3 –modernity vs Ireland

Question 18

‘In both Ireland and Brooklyn, Eilis feels that her life is controlled by others.’ Discuss.

Answer 18

Toibin explores the complexity of taking agency in our lives, suggesting that a reluctance to disappoint others may constrain us from making decisions and asserting our adulthood. He further condemns individuals who engage in self-delusion towards the extent of their control over their lives and thus let their decisions be guided by others.

Para 1 – life is controlled by others because she is afraid to take agency and disappoint her mother

Para 2 – she deludes herself into thinking that she has control over her decisions

Para 3 – this leads her into a spiral of decisions that seem to be in her control but are eventually revealed as motivated by others – these cause pain

Question 19

In Tóibín’s novel, the migration experience profoundly affects those who stay as well as those who leave.’

Answer 19

Toibin shows the migration experience to bring both loss and growth to the lives of those affected by it, ultimately suggesting that its most profound impact is a need to mature.

Para 1 – loss is present in Irish national consciousness, colours everyday interactions; the pain of no longer shaping someone’s life, letting go of children

Para 2 – loss of self for those who go, needing to gain a second identity; leads to a duality of self – however, core self remains

Para 3 – migration forces us to mature; sexual capital

Question 20

‘By returning to Brooklyn and marriage to Tony, Eilis recognises the limitations to her independence.’ Do you agree?

Answer 20

Para 1 – decision still guided by others due to her inability to assert her agency/fear of conflict and reluctance to grow up

Para 2 – she is forever contained within the barriers of whatever society she finds herself in because of her sustained fear of conflict

Para 3 – she is afforded more adulthood/independence from the life shaped for her by her mother in Brooklyn – rejects letting her mother live vicariously through her

Question 21

Home is a construct of the mind. How is this idea explored in the novel?

Answer 21

Toibin shows that a place of true belonging can be an unattainable ideal.

Para 1 – idealise what we can’t have – Irish migrants never truly feel at home

Para 2 – home shifts with relationship connections

Para 3 – sustained longing for home is a manifestation of our longing for childhood

Question 22

Brooklyn places responsibility to self above responsibility to others

Answer 22

Brooklyn shows the negative consequences of placing duty to others above your responsibility to yourself, condemning those who do so. However, it simultaneously acknowledges that it is impossible for individuals to abandon their responsibilities to society without losing their belonging.

Para 1 – submitting to the wishes of others may simply be a way of keeping your responsibility to yourself

Para 2 – doing this leads to pain and conflict

Para 3 – maintaining some responsibility to others, even if it is a way of shielding yourself from the need to take agency, results in being able to function effectively in society

Question 23

How does Toibin convey a sense of divided loyalty in Brooklyn?

Answer 23

Para 1 – our environment forms our identity; therefore, the migration experience results in a division of self and thus a division of loyalty – must reject Irish self in order to belong; structural division of the novel; her cocoon like mentality in Enniscorthy

Para 2 – moral ambiguity of her decisions – everything she does seems to be motivated by wanting the best for others, but leads to pain – shows the impossibility to remaining master of two worlds; third person limited perspective

Para 3 –modernity vs Ireland

Question 24

‘In both Ireland and Brooklyn, Eilis feels that her life is controlled by others.’ Discuss.

Answer 24

Toibin explores the complexity of taking agency in our lives, suggesting that a reluctance to disappoint others may constrain us from making decisions and asserting our adulthood. He further condemns individuals who engage in self-delusion towards the extent of their control over their lives and thus let their decisions be guided by others.

Para 1 – life is controlled by others because she is afraid to take agency and disappoint her mother

Para 2 – she deludes herself into thinking that she has control over her decisions

Para 3 – this leads her into a spiral of decisions that seem to be in her control but are eventually revealed as motivated by others – these cause pain

Question 25

In Tóibín’s novel, the migration experience profoundly affects those who stay as well as those who leave.’

Answer 25

Toibin shows the migration experience to bring both loss and growth to the lives of those affected by it, ultimately suggesting that its most profound impact is a need to mature.

Para 1 – loss is present in Irish national consciousness, colours everyday interactions; the pain of no longer shaping someone’s life, letting go of children

Para 2 – loss of self for those who go, needing to gain a second identity; leads to a duality of self – however, core self remains

Para 3 – migration forces us to mature; sexual capital

Question 26

‘By returning to Brooklyn and marriage to Tony, Eilis recognises the limitations to her independence.’ Do you agree?

Answer 26

Para 1 – decision still guided by others due to her inability to assert her agency/fear of conflict and reluctance to grow up

Para 2 – she is forever contained within the barriers of whatever society she finds herself in because of her sustained fear of conflict

Para 3 – she is afforded more adulthood/independence from the life shaped for her by her mother in Brooklyn – rejects letting her mother live vicariously through her

Question 27

Home is a construct of the mind. How is this idea explored in the novel?

Answer 27

Toibin shows that a place of true belonging can be an unattainable ideal.

Para 1 – idealise what we can’t have – Irish migrants never truly feel at home

Para 2 – home shifts with relationship connections

Para 3 – sustained longing for home is a manifestation of our longing for childhood

Question 28

If you hadn’t married him, would you still be going back?

How does Eilis’ sense of duty shift throughout the novel?

Answer 28

Para 1 – sense of duty to Ireland must lessen as she loses her Irish identity/adapts

Para 2 – it is not duty that drives her final decision, but rather a fear of conflict

Para 3 – still retains her sense of duty to her mother, this is what fuels her fear of conflict/reluctance to make decisions

Question 29

‘Eilis’ sense of self is formed more by others than herself.’ To what extent do you agree?

Answer 29

Toibin suggests that when individuals are reluctant to make decisions, their future and thus identity is shaped by the decisions of others. This reluctance is shown to spring from a longing for the unattainable ideal of a renewed childhood, which Toibin portrays as taking root in the desire to please others.

Para 1 – sense of self is malleable in order to adapt

Para 2 – decisions and sense of self shaped by others due to her being reluctant to make decisions, these decisions would force her to shape who she is

Para 3 – doesn’t want to shape who she is because that means adulthood, doesn’t want to hurt mother

Question 30

How does the novel show the benefits of remaining passive?

Answer 30

‘Brooklyn’ suggests that while remaining passive can allow us to avoid confronting our fears in the short term, the eventual consequences of doing so are condemnable, bringing pain and suffering.

Para 1 – allows individuals to avoid confronting their fear of conflict

Para 2 – brings us comfort, makes us feel that we are sparing others from pain

Para 3 – however, long term it causes more suffering than the situation otherwise would have

Question 31

The true subject of the novel is the nature of personal freedom

Answer 31

The novel suggests that absolute personal freedom is unattainable, and portrays this as a consequence of individuals’ inability to change to such an extent as to transcend their deepest fears.

Para 1 – different environments allow us different degrees of freedom

Para 2 – individuals bound by their fear are unable to be free

Para 3 – we cannot transcend our deepest fears – true subject

Question 32

What role does silence play in ‘Brooklyn’?

Answer 32

Silence allows individuals to avoid that which they fear, but is ultimately shown to bring pain and suffering.

Para 1 – emotional repression of Lacey family allows them to avoid confronting loss

Para 2 – Eilis’ silence allows her to avoid confrontation (esp with mother)

Para 3 – when we are silent, our decisions are made by others