They're gonna be rich!
Once they build their houses in a deserted Long Island ad have their constructions business, they're gonna be filthy rich for generations.
It's gonna be legen... wait for it... dary.
that's what I thought in the second half of the movie, from a purely pragmatic standpoint with some foresight she basically had no conflict. Either she stays and marries into what seemed to be a pretty wealthy family, or she goes back and stays with the idiot who is sitting on what's about to become a goldmine.
shareWell, if she stayed in Ireland she'd have been a big deal amongst people for whom she was nobody before. Jim's parents were retiring and he'd have managed the pub they owned. It seemed to me they were comfortable, albeit no wealthy. But comfortable practically WAS wealthy in Ireland at the time I guess - it's economy was very slow. Of course if she'd stayed in Ireland it would have been a bigamous marriage, and even if she'd never told Jim, it would probably eat at her conscience when she took the sacraments. The Catholic church DOES recognize civil marriages. Your marriage isn't a sacrament, but you can't have a civil marriage and then walk away from it and marry someone else "in the church" and have the church recognize it. You still need an anullment.
When Tony described building houses in Long Island, at first I thought hot, teeny houses butting up against each other the way you see in some tiny LI suburbs. Bungalows, with weedy plots of land. Then I realized no, they own the property, and will be designing and building the homes themselves. Tony's and Eilis's house will have a nice layout, be comfortable, and have a decent plot of land. I'm not a fan of Long Island, so given my own choice, I think Ireland is more beautiful, but if Tony and Eilis are near enough to the water it could be very nice.
Men aside, that's a hard choice. Ireland is beautiful, but a limited future depending on what she wants out of life. And can you imagine seeing Long Island when it was wild and beautiful? She had more chances to really become something in New York in the 1950's. I think she even realized that when she went back home. Once the glamour wore off, and soon it would, the townspeople, too, would've been bored with her and her modern life. Sooner rather than later, her position wouldn't have been much different from when she left.
But going back to the land, when Tony talked about building in LI, I thought he said they're going to build five houses. In those times, that would've gave them a pretty good start to build up their business, but I don't think they owned vast amounts of land to make them filthy rich. He said everything's already been bought up so they won't be living alone out there. However, the potential for them to become filthy rich, being one of the main builders there, is huge. Eilis, being a future accountant, would've done their books, I assume, and the brothers would've all had their roles in growing that business ,in hopes to one day, being a pretty successful company.
~Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable~
I agree Eilis would have more chances to thrive in New York, and her glamour would have worn off in Ireland once the town realized she was staying. No question, New York City's post war economy was booming, and it was never a better time to be an Irish immigrant - the NYC Cardinal and the mayor at the time were both Irish, the Irish were coming in to become teachers, nurses, office workers, get more education, and they were very welcome. Their children would also probably have better opportunities in America at the time than any children she had with Jim.
I believe Tony and his brothers purchased five plots of land. One was going to be for their parents - his mother always wanted a garden. They were going to build on three plots and sell them. His brothers asked him if he wanted the fifth plot and he said yes. That would be for him and Eilis. I just hope there's a decent scale to the building where they were, and it's not one of those cramped Levittown insta-communities that sprang up in LI around that time.
I just hope there's a decent scale to the building where they were, and it's not one of those cramped Levittown insta-communities that sprang up in LI around that time.
That's funny you said that. I know this is a work of fiction, but I was/am so curious in what he was planning on building too.
~Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable~ share