Amongst Women: Part 1, (Great Meadow).

• Amongst Women by John ...
'Amongst Women' is a novel by the Irish writer John McGahern (1934-2006). McGahern's best known novel, it is also considered his greatest work. The novel tells the story of Michael Moran, a bitter, ageing Irish Republican Army veteran, and his tyranny over his wife and children, who both love and fear him. The novel is set in County Leitrim in the rural border region of the Republic of Ireland. The story spans a period of twenty years in the middle of the twentieth century. It centres on Michael Moran, patriarch of the Moran family and a former IRA member who was an officer and guerrilla fighter in the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War in the 1920s. Although Moran is a well-respected member of his community and a devout Catholic, there is a cruel, violent, and controlling side to his character. He dominates the lives of his second wife, Rose, and his five children. His children strive to establish their own lives while remaining loyal to the family. The title can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, the title refers to Moran's largely female household, with much of the book focusing on the domineering relationship between the patriarchal Moran and the women surrounding him. The title also references the traditional prayer, the Hail Mary, which contains the clause "blessed art thou amongst women". This prayer is significant as it is part of the Rosary, which is prayed every day in the Moran household, and the event is a repeating motif throughout the novel. The novel opens with an elderly, weak, and depressed Michael Moran being taken care of by his daughters. Although they have busy lives and families of their own in Dublin and London, they have never really left the family home because they feel more important there. He is now a widower with three daughters and two sons. They live in a house called "Great Meadow" on a small farm in the west of Ireland. He thinks that his time in the IRA was the best of his life, and misses the security provided by the military's structure, rules, and clear demarcation of power. In his old age, however, he is bitter about the "small-minded gangsters" that are now in charge of the Republic of Ireland. Moran's controlling nature is shown from the very first flashback narrative Through his influence, the outside world is kept at an "iron distance", and the family unite against it. Moran marries a local woman called Rose Brady when his children are teenagers. Rose is in middle-age when she marries Moran. Despite her mother's warning that he is "one sort of person when he's out in the open among people - he can be very sweet - but that he's a different sort of person altogether behind the walls of his own house," she is determined to marry him. She becomes a mother to the children and is their mainstay. For example, she helps Maggie to leave for London to become a nurse. She often alleviates the disputes between Moran and the children. She is quietly tolerant of Moran's mood swings, even when he verbally abuses her. Moran's personality becomes apparent in his dealings with his family, who all love and respect him despite his violent outbursts and his lack of apologies. His family are actually "inordinately grateful for the slightest good will." Although he can be tender towards his family, he is often obstinate and cruel and demands constant attention. For example, on his wedding day he is content because "he needed this quality of attention to be fixed upon him in order to be completely silent." He is a devout Catholic and makes sure that his family upholds all the values he fought for. He feels that he is losing his position as the centre of attention as he ages and the children start to escape from Great Meadow. He demands help and attention at inappropriate times as a way of focusing the others on his needs. Although he is mostly calm with his daughters, he is threatened by his sons as they grow up. Luke, the older son, leaves for London because of his father's overbearing authority and only returns once. Thoughts of Luke are painful to Moran, and the others refrain from mentioning him. Michael, the youngest child, hides behind Rose until he gains the courage to leave also. The only way that the children can assert any autonomy is through exile, thus tacitly rebuking Moran's ethos of family solidarity. Moran dominates his daughter's lives and they regularly return to the family home despite their own busy lives. They yearn for his approval, yet fear his temper. He tells them that it is important that the family stick together: "Alone we might be nothing. Together we can do anything." They find individuality painful compared to the protection of the familial identity. Moran dies at the end of the novel. He is buried under a yew tree, but his influence does not leave his family "...as they left him under the yew, it was as if each of them in their different ways had become Daddy."

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great film

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[@andrewjamesfoley3825]

8:27 who's the woman on the hat beside Moran?

[@frankgilmartin]

That is Mona, one of Moran's three daughters.

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@@frankgilmartin ok