Brooklyn

“As each customer came into the shop on the days when she was being trained, Eilis noticed that Miss Kelly had a different tone. Sometimes she said nothing at all, merely clenched her jaw and stood behind the counter in a pose that suggested deep disapproval of the customer’s presence in her shop and an impatience for that customer to go.”

Miss Kelly’s judgment results in varying treatment of her customers. She creates a hierarchy in the town, in which preferred customers have access to better service and better products. Because her store is the only one open on Sundays, she has significant power over people’s lives.

“She also 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.”

Eilis’s three brothers move to England before the beginning of the novel to find work. The atmosphere in her home changes after they leave, and when she makes her mother and sister laugh, she realizes that much of the laughter they once enjoyed left with her brother, demonstrating how they can be homesick for him without ever leaving home.

“[I]t was a business he would inherit in full on his mother’s death. For Nancy, who worked in Buttle’s Barley-Fed Bacon behind the counter, going out with George Sheridan was a dream that she did not wish to wake from.”

Nancy wants to marry George Sheridan not only because she likes him but also because it will help elevate her status in Enniscorthy. If she marries him, she will become a member of a shop-keeping family, rather than a wage worker. In a small town like Enniscorthy, reputation and status mean everything, and for women, marriage is the quickest route to elevation.

“As Eilis watched her, it struck her that she had never seen Rose look so beautiful. And then it occurred to her that she was already feeling that she would need to remember this room, her sister, this scene, as though from a distance.”

With the news that she will be going to Brooklyn, Eilis begins preparing for a life away from home. She realizes that she will have to remember her home and her family to keep them with her as she will not have the opportunity to visit them often.

“Although she knew friends who regularly received presents of dollars or clothes from America, it was always from their aunts and uncles, people who had emigrated long before the war. She could not remember any of these people ever appearing in the town on holidays.”

Eilis understands the fundamental difference between the lives of those who emigrate to England and those who emigrate to America. England is not far, and people return, but America is across the Atlantic and supposedly the land of opportunity, meaning that many do not come back.

“[S]he still stopped when her mind moved towards real fear or dread or, worse, towards the thought that she was going to lose this world for ever, that she would never have an ordinary day again in this ordinary place, that the rest of her life would be a struggle with the unfamiliar.”

Eilis steels herself for the homesickness and feelings of loss and disconnect she will feel away from her family. She has spent her entire life in one town, surrounded constantly by people who have always known her. In her new life, she will be alone, surrounded by people who are a mystery to her and who find her to be a mystery as well.

“She was the new girl, and the youngest, and they could not stop giving her advice, or making criticisms or comments. She wondered how long it would go on for, and was trying to let them know how little appreciated their interest was by smiling faintly at them when they spoke or, a few times, especially in the morning, by looking at them vacantly as though she did not understand a word they said.”

Eilis is not only the new girl at Mrs. Kehoe’s boardinghouse, but the youngest girl in the house, meaning that the other girls feel it is their right to bombard her with attention. Eilis despises this attention and does her best to ward it off, even if this prevents her from building relationships with the other girls.

“Every day she had come back to this small room in this house full of sounds and gone over everything new that had happened. Now, all that seemed like nothing compared to the picture she had of home, of her own room, the house in Friary Street, the food she had eaten there, the clothes she wore, how quiet everything was.”

As Eilis’s homesickness begins to set in, her distress stems from the differences between her new and old lives. The more she notices the differences, the more she misses her life at home, with her own space, her own home, her friends, and the peace and quiet that existed around her.

“He had said that he found being away hard at first, but he did not elaborate and she did not think of asking him what it really had been like. His manner was so mild and good-humored, just as her father’s had been, that he would not in any case want to complain.”

As Eilis contemplates her brother’s words of advice about homesickness, she wonders why he never reached out to anyone about it. She realizes that he did not want anyone to worry about him, and taking this cue from Jack, Eilis hesitates to reach out to others.

“Eilis almost laughed out loud when he said ‘Ma Kehoe.’ His accent was, for the first time, pure Enniscorthy.”

Eilis struggles with homesickness, and yet one of the brief moments that helps her fight it is hearing Father Flood speak of Mrs. Kehoe in a familiar way with a familiar accent. This association with someone from home, who has shared experiences, knowledge, and emotions, helps Eilis to not think of missing home.

“But by the time she served them and they turned to thank her, they seemed more like her father and his brothers in the way they spoke or smiled, the toughness in their faces softened by shyness, and what had appeared stubborn or hard now strangely tender.”

When Eilis serves the forgotten Irish men at Father Flood’s church, she recognizes her father and her uncles in the faces of the men. Her time with these men reminds her of home and gives her a brief opportunity to pretend that she is home with her family, surrounded by the familiar.

“She wished she had a real friend among the lodgers whom she could consult. And she wondered then if she herself were the problem, reading malice into motives when there was none intended.”

Eilis struggles to adjust to life in the boardinghouse and soon realizes that she does not have friends because she refuses to build relationships due to her believing the girls are against her. Her difficulty with socializing and making friends only contributes to her loneliness and homesickness.

“He stood alone, and when she caught his eye, having turned away for a moment, she was surprised at the expression on his face, which was unembarrassed at the fact that he was still looking at her.”

When Eilis first meets Tony, she is taken aback by his behavior, as it does not follow the social norms she is accustomed to. He is not as reserved or shy as many of the boys she interacts with, like Jim Farrell ignoring her at a dance, and his unembarrassed pursuit of her contributes to his charm.

“Eilis realized that this invitation would mean that she could go to the dance without having to take the feelings of any of her fellow lodgers into account. Even for Mrs. Kehoe, she thought, it would serve as an excuse not to have to accompany Dolores.”

Tony asks Eilis on a date before the next dance, and though she likes him, she agrees because of the independence it will give her. She wants increased independence in her new life, and by agreeing to go with him she will not be at the whims of her housemates or responsible for anyone at the dance but herself.

“She explained to him then that she had been homesick, and that Father Flood had inscribed her on the course as a way of making her busy, and how studying in the evening made her feel happy, or as happy as she had been since she had left home.”

Eilis explains to Tony why she is in bookkeeping classes and how they help her overcome homesickness. Not only do the classes keep her busy, but they also help her to engage in a passion and help her envision a future for herself here in America.

“And yet she knew that in his mind Tony was moving faster than she was, and she knew that she would have to slow him down, but she had no idea how to do so in a way that did not involve being unpleasant to him.”

Tony is very quick to mention his future with Eilis, their marriage and their future children. He operates too quickly for Eilis, who must contend with the fact that if she commits to him, she will be abandoning any hope of returning to Ireland.

“In the water, the few times that she swam out on her own, she felt that 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.”

The waves at Coney Island are stronger to Eilis than they are at home and she feels that they do not crash on the beach hard so much as they try to pull people out. The phrase “swim too far out of her depth” works as a metaphor for the trepidation Eilis feels in Brooklyn, where the unfamiliar—both exciting and threatening—is all around her.

“Tony, Eilis saw, had ceased to have any interest in her at all. Normally, he was attentive, smiling at her, asking her questions, listening to her, telling her stories. Now, in the heat of this excitement, he could no longer manage the role of caring, thoughtful boyfriend.”

At the Brooklyn Dodgers game, Tony becomes a different person, engaged with the game rather than with Eilis. Eilis does not mind his behavior, excited to see him enjoy himself and show passion for a personal interest.

“She had a bad heart, Dr. Cudigan said, and there was nothing could be done. She went on as normal. She knew that she had a bad heart and 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 hid her heart condition from Eilis and their mother, continuing to live her life as she normally does, ignoring warnings from her doctor. She refuses to not live life to her fullest, knowing that even if she changes her lifestyle, she still could die. She remains herself throughout her condition, fiercely independent and living her life as she wants.

“Tony came every night to meet her after the classes and she liked how he allowed her to remain silent if she wanted. He simply held her hand, or put his arm around her and walked her home.”

When Eilis needs comfort and support after Rose’s death, Tony offers it to her in a unique way. He is always cognizant of what she needs and recognizes that she wants to grieve in silence, not forcing her to talk or explain herself to him, making her feel that she can trust him.

“Eilis’s mother wrote and mentioned how lonely she was and how long the day was and how hard the night. She said that neighbours looked in on her all the time and people called after tea but she had run out of things to say to them.”

Eilis’s mother wants her to return home to Enniscorthy and take Rose’s place as the child that will take care of her as she ages. She begins pressuring Eilis by writing her letters that increasingly mention her loneliness and struggles in the aftermath of Rose’s death.

“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, Rose who would have plenty to say to both of them, questions to ask, comments to make and opinions to offer.”

Rose is the buffer between Eilis and her mother, and in her absence, Eilis realizes how different their relationship is. Rose had a way of controlling their mother, keeping her at a healthy distance while also pushing her to engage when necessary. Without Rose, Eilis and her mother must rebuild their relationship.

“She had never mentioned to Tony that she would like to keep working, even if just part time, maybe doing the accounts from home for someone who needed a bookkeeper. In Bartocci’s she did not think any of the women in the office were married.”

Eilis begins thinking of her future with Tony and her own personal goals in such a relationship. She likes bookkeeping and wants to keep doing it, even after they marry, move in together, and likely have children. She does not want to abandon what she has worked so hard for.