40 pages • 1-hour read
Amongst Women
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Themes
The Importance of Women
Amongst Women simultaneously celebrates women’s traditional roles as caretakers while critiquing the ways that patriarchal social structures keep women subordinate to men. As Moran’s partner, this is illustrated clearly through Rose, who is compassionate, empathetic, practical, and intelligent. These characteristics make her an excellent mother figure when she marries Moran and takes over the household. Her soft touch brings happiness to the entire family; she redecorates the house to make it homier, finds ways of brokering peace between Moran and his children, and helps raise her stepchildren to be emotionally intelligent and autonomous individuals. She advocates for the children, and without her, Moran’s power would be unchecked and despotic. While Moran is ultimately the patriarch, he considers her opinions and respects her. For example, she convinces Moran to let Maggie pursue training as a nurse. This pays dividends, as Maggie then becomes a role model for her younger sisters, who also leave home for their own jobs. Rose encourages the daughters’ independence because she herself has spent much of her life living abroad and working. She is empowered by her experiences and raises Moran’s daughters to be empowered, too. Rose’s influence in the upbringing of autonomous and intelligent women is an example of how women can uplift each other in an otherwise male-dominated and anti-feminist society.
While Moran believes he can only rely on himself and sees his children as an extension of his body, soul, and mind, he relies on his daughters’ love and Rose’s patience. This highlights the unacknowledged domestic labor women often perform under patriarchy, such as emotional support. Without the women in Moran’s life, he would be lonely and even more bitter than he already is. His daughters keep his spirits up, as his fractured relationships with his sons are never fully healed. Likewise, Rose helps Moran navigate his temper and is a steadfast partner. Moran takes advantage of the women in his life and expects their loyalty, even though his treatment of them threatens to push them away. In contrast to Moran’s controlling nature and difficult temper, the women in this novel are allegories of the qualities traditionally associated with women, such as empathy, kindness, patience, and self-sacrifice. For example, when Rose discovers Moran’s temper, she accepts her fate: “The violence Moran had turned on her she chose to ignore, to let her own resentment drop and to join the girls as they stole about so that their presences would never challenge his” (53). The women in this novel have been conditioned by society to tap into traditionally feminine qualities and put Moran’s power and desires ahead of theirs to keep the peace. As such, while Amongst Women celebrates women as integral to the development and maintenance of society and community, it also criticizes the unfair treatment of women at the hands of men.
The Individual Versus the Collective
In Amongst Women, a major and divisive conflict is that of the individual versus the collective. The collective is mostly represented by the family unit. To Moran, family is the most important institution—more important than anything a country can do. He raises his family to understand that “[b]eneath all differences was the belief that the whole house was essentially one. Together they were one world and could take on the world” (145). Moran’s children, with the notable exception of Luke, alternate between believing this and rejecting it. In many ways, they are more powerful as a collective, as evidenced by how Moran’s farm runs better when his children are around to help. Additionally, the family members leave space for each other’s flaws, proving that family is a source of unconditional love in the face of a harsh world. At the same time, Moran’s dogmatic insistence on the family unit does not materialize in a happy, unified family—each of the children leaves their hometown to pursue love and opportunities in metropolises. This indicates that Moran’s focus on the family collective is self-serving; without meaningfully addressing his children’s desires and needs, they have no incentive to stay nearby.
The idea of the collective, whether realistic or romantic, can get in the way of individual autonomy and progress. As Ireland rapidly modernized throughout the 20th century, its people adopted the mindset of other Western nations, in which the pursuit of individual wealth, happiness, and power was laudable. Rural Ireland once relied heavily on family farming, where small plots of land run by families and inherited by sons kept communities tight-knit and productive. But as cities industrialize, society shifts, and progress is made toward equality, young people from rural communities find new opportunities in labor, education, and independence away from the family farm. Moran and his children go through this shift. None of Moran’s children are interested in farming. They don’t want the inheritance of the past and instead take different paths offered toward more prosperous futures, whether in Ireland or abroad. This frees them from Moran’s control and also allows them to find their own passions and loves. Their individual happiness is often threatened by their ties to their collective happiness, but ultimately, they all choose independence. In short, Amongst Women explores the pull between the individual and the collective, the necessity of both, and the complexity of being an individual on an autonomous journey within the context of a society and community.
The Individual in a Changing World
Another conflict explored in Amongst Women is the battle between the individual and the changing world. Moran represents a very specific time in Irish history and culture. He was brought up in Ireland when it was still a colony of Great Britain, which means that his identity is heavily tied to a time when he didn’t have his own autonomy as a citizen. He is a veteran of the Irish War of Independence but is disappointed by the new Republic of Ireland. To Moran, fighting in a difficult and brutal war didn’t necessarily make his life better. In the early years of Irish independence, Ireland underwent the drastic changes that all postcolonial nations endure. In Ireland’s case, the Catholic Church gains control and prominence, and Moran has a difficult time feeling part of Ireland as it changes. He feels left out of the larger discussion and ignored for his veteran status. Ireland wants to move away from the negative memories of the War of Independence, but Moran can’t keep up. He lives with a lot of unaddressed trauma that the younger generation overlooks; his “racial fear of the poorhouse or famine [is] deep” (68), which alludes to the history of Irish poverty and famines that decimated entire counties when they were under British rule. Moran’s trauma informs his emphasis on possession: a house, a farm, a wife, and children. Moran has an internalized fear of losing everything because the Ireland he grew up in was insecure and unstable. By not accepting modern Ireland for the privileges it can now bestow on its citizens, Moran lives unhappily in the past, noted by his neighbors as “dark mutterings.”
Another major change during this era was women’s roles. Ireland was a deeply patriarchal nation during the early and mid-20th century, and the expectation was that women would marry, become mothers, and keep up house and home. These expectations were reinforced by restrictive legal measures that controlled women’s behavior, from banning married women from working in the public sector to the proliferation of Magdalene Laundries, effectively prisons for women who broke the social contract. Nonetheless, John McGahern presents a different path for Moran’s daughters, as they pursue education and careers. Before Rose comes into their lives, they have no mother and are therefore responsible for taking care of the house, cooking, cleaning, and raising Michael. They can break free from the traditional roles of serving their patriarch only because another woman steps in to take over their chores and responsibilities. With Rose’s sacrifice, there are other opportunities available to them, such as work in the civil service, nursing, and education. Moran’s daughters enjoy opportunities that the women Moran grew up with likely wouldn’t have been able to pursue. Their status as working women with happy marriages embodies the rapidly changing world, although this progress is shown to be limited, as they are constantly tied to their internalized responsibilities to their father.
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