51 pages • 1 hour read
Colm TóibínLong Island
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Parts 2-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary
Nancy Sheridan lives above her chip shop with her three children, Laura, Gerard, and Miriam, who is soon to be married. She runs the shop, converted from a market after the death of husband George, though the shop’s crowds and odors are unpopular with many of her neighbors. Late one night, a drunk couple walks up to the window and demands to be let in. She refuses and goes upstairs, only to be hounded by them even more. She calls Jim Farrell, at his bar nearby, and he comes to convince the couple to leave. Jim and Nancy are in the midst of a near year-long secret relationship, with Nancy often sneaking over to his home above his bar in the night. One night, Jim suggested they marry, and Nancy remembered how 20 years prior Jim had loved her best friend Eilis, who broke his heart by leaving to return to America. She is happy with Jim, but her own daughter’s upcoming marriage forces them to wait before announcing their plans.
Ideally, Nancy wants them to step away from their businesses and move out of town to a more peaceful place, though she does not share these sentiments with Jim. One day, Nancy’s doorbell rings and she is shocked to find Eilis, stunned by her stylish beauty. They reminisce about their younger lives in Enniscorthy and Nancy invites Eilis to Miriam’s wedding. As they talk, Nancy wonders why Eilis does not mention the man she married, experiencing a moment of resentment over Eilis’s old deception. Before she leaves, Eilis asks if Jim is married, and Nancy quickly makes up a lie about a woman in Dublin he sees. After she leaves, Nancy worries how Jim will react to Eilis’s presence and feels insecure over her own appearance compared to that of Eilis.
Part 2, Chapter 2 Summary
Frank gave Eilis some money before she left, and she uses it to order a refrigerator, cooker, and washer as a surprise for her mother, though her mother chastises Eilis for not consulting her on the matter. Eilis soon realizes why her mother does not want the refrigerator, as not having one gives her an excuse to go into town frequently. As the days go by, Eilis comes to regret coming to Ireland before her children, with each day passing slowly, her mother taking absolutely no interest in Eilis’s life or her children and criticizing her for never visiting. She begins to wonder if Tony’s family will ever see her perspective and refuse to take the baby. When Eilis discusses her mother’s upcoming birthday party, Mrs. Lacey declares that she does not want any fuss made over her. Frustrated, Eilis leaves, walking into town, and sees Jim Farrell in the doorway of his pub. She walks by quickly, though she feels a certain attraction toward him.
Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary
Jim sees Eilis walking but ignores her as she goes past. He is rattled by her appearance and wonders why no one in town has told him of her return. Jim goes upstairs to his apartment and remembers how his relationship with Nancy began. Collette, the wife of his bartender Shane, was the one to suggest he approach Nancy Sheridan. One day, Jim told Nancy that she could call him whenever she needed help with drunk customers, mentioning that he often thought of how she was on her own. He also remembers the sting of Eilis’s flight from Enniscorthy. After she left, he waited for her to return or contact him, giving him a chance to convince her not to leave him. Only later did the gossip reach him that Eilis was already married, and soon he could not escape the rumors. Hurt by Eilis’s deceit, Jim struggled to move on from her. Eventually, he began going to dances outside of Enniscorthy and met a girl named Mai. Though he liked Mai and envisioned a future with her, he soon found out that she had another boyfriend and left her. He felt tricked by Mai, whereas he was sure that Eilis had her reasons for leaving him. Jim realizes that it is 3:00 am and, unable to sleep, decides to walk across town and look at Eilis’s window, imagining her sleeping inside.
Part 3, Chapter 1 Summary
One morning, Nancy meets Nora Webster and her sister Catherine out on a walk. Nora is another local widow who once tried to connect with Nancy after the passing of her husband. Catherine gives Nancy the contact information for a saleswoman in Dublin who can help Nancy find a dress for Miriam’s wedding. Nancy makes an appointment with the woman and coordinates a ride with Jim. Throughout the drive, Nancy questions whether she should tell Jim about her desire to build a house outside of town or that Eilis is coming to the wedding. She notices that he looks fondly at her, and she struggles to imagine a life with him without feeling as though she is forgetting her late husband. At the store, Nancy meets with Miss Metcalfe and tries on different outfits before settling on one, expressing insecurity over not losing weight, though Miss Metcalfe is encouraging. When Miss Metcalfe asks how Nancy came to Dublin, Nancy tells her about Jim and her hopes to marry in Rome. Miss Metcalfe tells her that she has the perfect dress, and after she leaves, Nancy begins to feel confident in her future with Jim.
Part 3, Chapter 2 Summary
After Eilis’s mother tells her that she does not want to hear another word about America, Eilis decides to get away for a few days and visit her brother’s cliffside cottage in Cush. Eilis realizes that this will be the first night she has spent alone in her life and wonders what life is like at home without her. She thinks about her final days at home and how Tony lingered near her without ever engaging her in conversation. Eilis decides to walk on the beach and go for a swim, and as she walks down, she thinks of how observant Larry is. After his cousin told him that Eilis and Tony were splitting up, he confronted Eilis about it, declaring that he did not want anything to change, but Eilis could not reassure him of what would happen.
Right before she departed for Ireland, Francesca brought her a gift for her mother’s birthday and told her that Rosella and Larry were excited for the trip. Despite the apparent friendliness of this gesture, Eilis refused to engage or let Francesca pull her farther into the family. Tony declared that he would drive her to the airport, and on the way the next morning, Eilis agonized over how to threaten him. She wanted to tell him that if he or his mother took in the baby, she would leave and take their children, but Tony’s vulnerability prevented her from saying anything. When he dropped her off, she refused to look back and wave.
On the beach in Cush, Eilis goes for a short swim. Afterwards, she sees someone walking toward her in the distance, and as they near each other, she recognizes the man as Jim.
Part 3, Chapter 3 Summary
Sick of his lonely life, Jim wants to marry Nancy as soon as possible. Despite his desire to be with Nancy, he respects her wishes and keeps his relationship with her secret. Jim even begins to wonder as Nancy becomes more caught up in her daughter’s wedding if she really wants to marry him or is just attracted to the prospect of marrying him.
One day, Martin Lacey comes into the bar and tells Jim that his sister is home and that she went over to his cottage in Cush to take a break from their mother. After Martin leaves, Jim decides to go to Cush and find her, wanting to speak to her just once before she leaves again. When he arrives, he cannot find the cottage and must ask a woman to point him in the right direction. He is careful to hide his intentions, worried about gossip. He finally finds her cottage and walks down to the beach looking for her. When they meet, Eilis is pleasant and asks Jim to walk her back to the cottage. Jim finds his feelings for her rekindled, but he cannot address them as Eilis treats their encounter as normal and natural. Before he leaves, he asks if she ever thinks of him and when she doesn’t answer, he leaves, embarrassed.
Parts 2-3 Analysis
Part 2 moves the setting of Long Island from America to Enniscorthy and introduces the points of view of Nancy Sheridan, Eilis’s childhood friend, and Jim Sheridan, her former love interest. More than two decades have passed since Eilis’s last visit, and Nancy’s life looks very different. Her husband, George, died five years prior to the events of the novel, and in the last year, she has begun a secret relationship with Jim Sheridan. Despite her feelings for Jim, Nancy often struggles to reconcile her new passion with her commitment to and grief for George. Even now, as she finds happiness with Jim, she struggles to situate George in her new life: “The time she spent with Jim made her feel lighter and happier. When George died, she had resigned herself to being a widow” (64). Nancy at times struggles with The Tension Between Desire and Duty, most keenly with feelings toward Jim. She is happy with him and begins planning a new life with him, eager to build a house and move on from her chip shop. Despite this, she cannot help but remember George and feel as though her moving on is a disservice to his memory. She remembers that she once believed her status as a widow was inescapable. She was committed to living her life without new love, preserving the memory of George as her husband. By pursuing Jim, she feels she is abandoning her duty toward George.
Eilis’s mother, Mrs. Lacey, feels consternation and annoyance rather than happiness at Eilis’s return. Though Eilis comes back to combat her own loneliness, she is met in turn by her mother’s loneliness. Eilis has not returned for over two decades, and in that time, Mrs. Lacey has lived alone. Elis, hoping to do something nice, buys her new appliances, but is confused when her mother rejects them: “Slowly, she understood why her mother did not miss having a fridge in the house. It meant that she had to venture out often to buy groceries” (77). The need to frequently buy groceries is a means by which Mrs. Lacey combats her loneliness, going into town and socializing with her peers and others. By giving her a fridge, Eilis robs her of this practice. Mrs. Lacey’s reaction demonstrates how Loneliness as a Motivating Factor operates at multiple levels in the novel, both with serious emotional situations, like a failing marriage, or everyday moments of isolation, such as with Mrs. Lacey. With no one else living in the house, and hindered by her advanced age, Mrs. Lacey needs an excuse to see people.
Upon arriving back in Enniscorthy, Eilis is reminded of how quickly news spreads through the small town and how judgmental her neighbors can be. Her romantic history with Jim and her status as an American puts extra attention on her, and as Jim begins to pursue her yet again, he realizes that he must operate very carefully to avoid tipping off Nancy. Jim feels the Pressures of Living in a Small Community when he goes searching for Eilis in Cush, as the person he must ask for directions is the mother of someone he knows: “Jim still saw Lily Deveraux sometimes in the town. She had been on the board of the Credit Union with him. News would spread that he had been seen in Cush. He would have to be careful what he said” (145). Jim recognizes that he must watch himself while speaking with Lily Deveraux’s mother not only because she is the mother of a colleague but also because of the nature of gossip in town. It is the reason that he and Nancy only ever meet in private late at night, as his freedom of action depends on secrecy. He knows that if word starts circulating that he is looking for Eilis, the town will suspect that he and Eilis may finally be together, news that will certainly hurt Nancy. Jim does not want to leave Nancy until he knows that Eilis will take him, adding yet another layer of care with which he must approach Eilis.
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