Migrations

Content Warning: This section mentions sexual violence

On their wedding night, Franny tries to strangle Niall in her sleep. Over the following nights she sleepwalks destructively, feeling trapped in their newfound intimacy. Hoping to hide her “ugliness” from Niall, she ties her wrists to the bed. He is upset when he finds out.

Niall accompanies Franny to Doolin to visit John Torpey. John admits that he is Franny’s maternal grandfather. His wife Maire “was a wanderer” who would vanish for days at a time, provoking John’s jealousy (131). When Iris was born, John believed she was the product of infidelity and kicked both wife and daughter out of the house. Upset, Franny quickly leaves. Niall asks why she doesn’t want to be part of John’s family. Franny says, “why would I choose someone who never chose me?” (133). She tells Niall that her mother abandoned her. Franny blames herself, saying “I always leave” (135). Niall responds by asking her if she comes back.

One morning in Galway, Franny leaves the apartment early without telling Niall and goes to Dublin. When she realizes the panic she’s caused him, she feels guilty and returns. Later, they attend a faculty party at the university, where Niall speaks bitterly about the destruction humans have wrought on Earth. Franny realizes that her love for him makes her feel bound by a responsibility she has never had before. She promises that she will never leave him “for good.”

In Chapter 16 Franny admits that Niall left her because she is “bad for him” (142), raising questions about why she continues to write him heartfelt letters.

In the narrative present, the government outlaws fishing for profit. It’s a bittersweet moment which provides a huge win for climate activists but signals the destruction of Ennis’s livelihood. Franny is torn; she knows the new law will ruin Ennis, but she also knows it will make Niall ecstatic. The Saghani is frozen in place for 30 days, after which Ennis will have to take it to his home port in Alaska under police supervision. Franny has nowhere to go—she reveals she has broken parole for the voyage, and that if she goes back to Ireland she’ll be arrested. As Franny wanders, trying to clear her head, she’s approached by one of the climate protestors who had attacked the crew. The man tries to sexually assault her. She stabs him in the throat with her pocketknife. Ennis and the Saghani crew hustle her off to the boat and they escape onto the water. Franny wonders “if this was how [her] father felt the day he killed a person” (146).

In a narrative interlude from 19 years ago, Franny sneaks into her grandmother Edith’s private lockbox, searching for information about her father. She learns that his full name is Dominic Stewart, and that he was sentenced to life in prison for strangling a man named Ray Young to death.