40 pages • 1 hour read
Amongst Women
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Symbols & Motifs
Moran’s House
Moran’s house is a symbol that represents family and steadfastness—for good and for bad. Moran spends his adult life maintaining his farm and viewing the home as the rightful place for his family. For him, providing his children with a house and a farm is indicative of his love for them, though its walls are often confining, a space over which Moran has complete domain. Moran grew up in a time in Ireland when land ownership was a point of pride that demonstrated independence after centuries of colonization. Therefore, Moran’s house is also a symbol of the independent Ireland for which Moran fought. None of his children are interested in inheriting the house or farm, which highlights the shifts in Irish culture and society in the mid-20th century. Jobs in cities and education are more important to the young people of Ireland than carrying on an attachment to the land. Moran’s house is the setting from which his children must escape to make better lives for themselves.
While Ireland changes, Moran’s house remains the same: “The changeless image of itself that the house so fiercely held to was now being threatened in small ways by the different reality the untutored and uncaring outside world saw” (174). By characterizing the house as “changeless,” “fierce,” and “threatened,” John McGahern emphasizes the bygone days of Irish rural life. For Moran, who is very much of his era, change is difficult. Moran’s house is, therefore, a physical manifestation of Moran’s unchanging nature.
Family
Family is an important motif throughout this novel. For Moran, the family unit is integral to stability. Family is an extension of Moran himself, so he takes it personally when his family is at odds with him. No matter what happens, Moran reminds his children that they have a home with him. His love for family is his most redeeming quality, even though he is an oppressive patriarch and creates much of the conflict in his home. Moran’s emphasis on family makes his life too secluded. He is isolated from his community and society, and he only allows his children to bring “the bracing breath of the outside, an outside Moran refused to accept unless it came from the family” (93). Moran learns about the changing world from his family, and in learning about the outside world, his family necessarily must leave him; the family unit is not enough for them to live fully.
Family is also a shield from self-reflection and accountability for Moran, who has a difficult time acknowledging his mistakes as a father. When forced to reflect on his actions and why his children have left, Moran insists that “[a]nything [he] ever did was done for what [he] thought was in the best interests of those concerned. Sometimes what [he] did might have been misguided but it was always meant for the best” (125-26). Ultimately, Moran prioritizes his power as his family’s patriarch, demanding respect from his children and controlling the household with his moods. In this way, the family unit is a microcosm that symbolizes patriarchal power dynamics.
Change
Change is a motif throughout Amongst Women. Change informs character development, plot development, and thematic development. The setting of the novel in mid-20th century Ireland is important because the characters develop in tandem with a changing nation. The motif of change is paralleled by its opposite: the absence of change. Moran is emblematic of this dynamic. He refuses to change with the times, but that doesn’t make him stable. His temper makes him change “less predictably than the tide” (60), emphasizing that Moran and his relationship to change are fraught, unpredictable, and tense. Change is also represented through Moran’s children’s journeys to independence. Each of his children leaves home for cities in Ireland and England. This is a major change from the tradition of rural life, in which sons inherited family farms. The changing socioeconomic status of Ireland as a nation influences character development, giving more opportunities for Moran’s children to change and live different lives than their father. There are also other significant and symbolic changes, such as when Rose joins the family. Rose changes the family dynamics and makes Moran’s house more livable and loveable. Throughout Amongst Women, change is both a vehicle for progress and a way of being held back.
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