Option Two – General vision and viewpoint


news from home. Her loneliness would create an overwhelmingly negative general vision and viewpoint if it were not for the fact that we know she had little chance of finding lasting happiness and fulfilment in Enniscorthy. In addition, Eilis’s circumstances change quite quickly. Once Father Flood enrols her in the bookkeeping classes and she meets Tony, Eilis grows increasingly confident and optimistic. In a letter home to Rose, Eilis confides that her relationship with Tony has helped her to feel she has a life in America that she didn’t have before she met him and that her homesickness is diminishing as a result. Her heart is ‘halfway across the sea’ rather than in Ireland with her family. Eilis’s supervisor in the department store also notices the transformation, telling her that she is a completely different person now.


Eilis’s increasing drive and determination as she takes her studies in her stride make her situation seem ever more hopeful. Eilis is different to the other young women in the text in that she is determined to pursue a better life for herself rather than a better life with another. Unlike Nancy and Patty, she does not see marriage as the only realistic way for a woman to find comfort and security. At dinner in Tony’s house one evening, Eilis tells his mother that she is taking night classes in order to become a bookkeeper, as she doesn’t want to work in a shop forever. Shortly afterwards, Tony makes a comment about their kids supporting the Dodgers. Eilis looks uncomfortable at Tony’s assumption that she wants to settle down and have children. Eilis is driven by admirable desires to improve her life for her own sake and to be true to herself instead of simply pleasing the one she loves. Such a motivation appears likely to end in far more success than relying completely on another person. Therefore, Eilis’s independence leads to an uplifting general vision and viewpoint.


Unfortunately, Eilis’s new-found happiness is shattered when she learns of her sister Rose’s sudden death in Ireland. We know how close the sisters were and we feel great sympathy for Eilis as she has to face the fact that she will not even make it home in time for the funeral. Her phone call with her mother after the funeral is particularly harrowing. Mrs Lacey tells her daughter, ‘When your daddy died, I said to myself that I shouldn’t grieve too much because I had the two of you. And when you went to America, I told myself the same thing because she was here with me. But everyone’s gone, Eilis. I have nobody’. We are uncomfortably reminded of Miss Kelly’s comment earlier in the film about Rose having to look after her mother forever and we wonder if the same fate now awaits Eilis. Although Mrs Lacey does not mean to make Eilis feel guilty, there is no doubt that she feels compelled to go home for some time at least. The outlook seems bleak as Eilis’s hopes and dreams for her new life in New York with Tony are under threat.


Once she returns to Ireland, Eilis quickly becomes immersed in her old life. Admittedly, she is a far cry from the timid, reserved girl who left Enniscorthy the previous year, but despite her confidence and glamour, there is a serious danger that Eilis may lose her independence and sense of self. Everyone, from her mother to her friend to her boss in Rose’s old office, assumes that she will stay in Ireland. Eilis’s relationship with Jim Farrell is a huge complication because she is already married to Tony. Jim is a kind, sensitive young man with good prospects, but the thought that Eilis could give up her new life and hurt Tony so deeply is rather depressing.


The positive aspect of Eilis’s return to Ireland is that it provides us with a more optimistic and uplifting view of the country than in opening scenes. Nancy is engaged to George and seems deeply in love, despite Eilis’s earlier cynical belief that George’s wealth was a large part of his attraction. Jim Farrell shows that even the boys from the rugby club – for whom Eilis had little time – are capable of change. Eilis also secures a temporary job as Rose’s replacement. Now that Eilis is confident and independent, she can view her home town with affection at last. She says as much to Jim when they are at the beach, saying that her countrymen ‘seem calm and civilised and charming’ now.


Leaving Certificate English 425 Excellence in Texts


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