Option Two – Cultural context


bridges and highways of New York. Father Flood is the epitome of compassion, and his generosity of spirit contrasts with Miss Kelly’s spitefulness.


Eilis’s religious beliefs are tested when her beloved sister Rose dies suddenly. Distraught and bereft, Eilis asks Father Flood if it is true that she will never see Rose again. Father Flood takes her hand and says that he believes she will and that Rose will be watching over Eilis every day for the rest of her life. Father Flood’s language is interesting in this exchange. He doesn’t scold Eilis for questioning the afterlife, nor does he force the Church’s views on her. He merely says that his belief is that the sisters will be reunited and that Rose is in heaven. His blend of tolerance, common sense and spirituality makes Father Flood a clear force for good in the film and presents us with a wholly positive view of religion.


Family


Family, as it is presented in the film Brooklyn, is mostly loving and supportive but also a little restrictive at times.


The Lacey family is small and their home life is a little lonely. The shots of Mrs Lacey and her daughters eating at the table are usually rather gloomy with low lighting, dark-coloured furnishings and silences broken only by the clinking of cutlery as the women eat. However, they are united and loving and each wants the best for the others. Rose, the caring older sister, has arranged for Eilis to get a job in Brooklyn because she knows that Eilis’s opportunities in Enniscorthy are limited. As Eilis packs to leave, Rose looks in dismay at her tiny collection of clothes and other belongings and says, ‘I should have looked after you better’. Eilis points out that Rose bought her most of the clothes in the case, and Rose reflects sadly that if it were simply a case of spending her money on Eilis, she would do so in a heartbeat but it would not be enough: ‘I can’t buy you a future. I can’t buy you the kind of life you need’.


Family life in Ireland at the time the film is set comes with a certain level of guilt and an expectation that children will look after their aged parents. Rose has done all she can for Eilis and never mentions that she will now be her mother’s only support. The spiteful Miss Kelly takes pleasure in pointing this out to Eilis, saying that while mothers in Ireland are always left behind, when Eilis goes to America it will be ‘the end’ for Rose. Eilis’s crestfallen expression at these words shows that Miss Kelly’s parting shot has hit home.


Eilis misses her family dreadfully when she first arrives in Brooklyn but, like most young Irish emigrants of that era, she finds herself in a substitute family. In Eilis’s case, this is the Brooklyn boarding house under the watchful eye of ‘Ma Kehoe’. Mrs Kehoe runs her house as if the girls were her daughters and she is not slow to reprimand them or to hand out moral advice when she feels it is needed. However, she is also genuinely fond of Eilis and encourages her romance with Tony, of whom she approves. The other girls in the boarding house are like sisters to Eilis in a way. They bicker and tease, but they also rally around as family does when Eilis needs them. A good example of this is when Eilis is invited to dinner with Tony’s family and her housemates teach her how to eat spaghetti properly so she does not disgrace herself at the table!


The positive view of family life is reinforced when Eilis meets Tony’s family. His parents are younger than Mrs Lacey and their apartment, while small, is full of love and laughter. Tony’s pride in Eilis is clear as she tells Mrs Fiorelli about her bookkeeping classes, and Tony’s brothers and father make Eilis feel welcome as best they can. When his youngest brother makes derogatory comments about Irish people, he is swiftly removed from the room by his father and forced to make an apology to Eilis when he returns, chastened, to the table. There is no bad feeling about this incident: Eilis accepts his apology and the family dinner continues in the same vein as it began.


Leaving Certificate English 405 Excellence in Texts


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