48 pages • 1-hour read
Long Island
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
New Appliances
The new appliances that Eilis buys her mother are symbols representing the modernization that comes with Eilis’s status as an American. In Long Island’s predecessor, Brooklyn, Eilis is a young Irish immigrant unsure of herself and her life in America. However, in this sequel, decades have elapsed, and her time in America has given her a new confidence. Knowing how hard her mother works, Eilis buys her new appliances in a well-intentioned effort to ease her workload: “Her mother had the sheets and towels done at the laundry but washed her own clothes by hand, using a washboard that could, Eilis thought, more usefully be put into a museum or maybe just thrown out” (73). Eilis’s purchase of these new appliances shows how much she has changed. Even though she is from Enniscorthy, she is more of an outsider now than she is a local. To her, the washboard is an artifact of the past, but to her mother it remains a vital tool of daily life. Meanwhile, the refrigerator she gives her mother only deprives Mrs. Lacey of a reason to go into town and socialize every day. In America, Eilis has developed an uncritical faith that modern technology will improve life for everyone, and this faith prevents her from seeing her mother’s life clearly.
Pictures
The pictures that Mrs. Lacey keeps from the letters Eilis sends her are a motif that reflects the theme of Loneliness as a Motivating Factor. Mrs. Eilis is largely alone in her house in Enniscorthy, as all her children have started families outside of Ireland. With no means to travel to America, she is forced to watch her family grow without her through the pictures that document Larry and Rosella. It is clear that Mrs. Lacey keeps and studies these pictures frequently, organizing them and commenting on how through them, she watches life unfold across an ocean: “‘I got to know them all,’ her mother said, ‘the uncles and the two wives and the grandmother and grandfather. And I watched you all growing up’” (213). Mrs. Lacey’s comment also hints at her loneliness as she watched Eilis and her children grow with Tony’s family and not with her. She knows each of Eilis’s in-laws, recognizing them in pictures and cognizant of their proximity to her grandchildren. The years of watching her family live without her compounds Mrs. Lacey’s loneliness to the point that she schemes to return to America with Eilis and her children. Though Mrs. Lacey never mentions her loneliness, her pride too severe, her plans to come to Long Island reflect a desire to be connected to her grandchildren and Eilis.
Engagement Ring
Nancy’s engagement ring is a symbol representing The Tension Between Desire and Duty. After discovering that Eilis and Jim are together, Nancy decides to legitimize her relationship with Jim before the town, using the engagement ring George once gave her to do so: “Nor did it detain her for a moment when she found her old engagement ring and knew that she would be using the ring that George had bought for her” (272). As the threat of Eilis looms, Nancy takes decisive and confident action for the first time, putting Jim in a position that will make it extremely difficult for him to leave her. Her sense of responsibility to her late husband George fades in the face of her desire to be with Jim. For much of the novel, her sense of desire and responsibility have prevented her from moving forward with Jim quickly, and only at the threat of losing him altogether can Nancy be decisive. She uses Jim’s sense of duty to fulfill her own desires, taking control of her relationship with Jim and dictating how their marriage will come about.
Unlock the meaning behind every key symbol & motif
See how recurring imagery, objects, and ideas shape the narrative.
- Explore how the author builds meaning through symbolism
- Understand what symbols & motifs represent in the text
- Connect recurring ideas to themes, characters, and events