Rose

The description of the novel on Wikipedia said "heart condition". It was implied that Rose had kept it a secret.

Watching the gradual build-up of letter exchanges between the sisters that was followed by Rose's death, I felt quite sure that Rose had suicided. I could see Rose's heart sinking when Eilis began to write of the excitement of living a life of opportunity and freedom in Brooklyn. Seeing how liberated and happy Eilis became, Rose was forced to become even more aware of her own circumstances- she had lived a life of burden and entrapment. There were scenes depicting Rose's deep sadness as Eilis spoke with optimism. On top of feeling defeated about the life she led, she was ill. Those factors weighed heavily on her, and she felt as though she had no way out.

But then there was no mention or speculation following Rose's death, so I was a little unsure also.

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought it was suicide and after the movie my mother mentioned "the suicide". We just couldn't figure out how she did it.

I actually thought she took her own life as well.

When the mom was reading the letters, Rose was silently crying. Personally, I understand missing your sibling, but if you know you're very very sick, why not be happy your sister is settled somewhere else & happy? Everytime they showed Rose crying, it seemed linked to something exciting her sister was doing, which made me think she was jealous. If the book said she was sick, I guess she was sick. But I didn't get that from the movie.

-Who is it?
-It's Grandpa. And it sounds like he's gotten into the horseradish again.

Personally, I didn't see her as a suicidal. I think she was melancholy and she was accepting her life was going to be very inconsequential, but I didn't perceive her as wanting to throw it away.

There is a scene with her at the dinner table with her mother where she looks like she fighting to keep the food down, or stop herself from choking. She turns away and puts her hand over her mouth. She looked unwell.

I think if she had used the heater to kill herself she would have been found in bed, but she was sprawled across the floor like she was getting out of bed and just collapsed.

The priest (Jim Broadbent) mentions that Rose had been ill for some time and hiding it, but then again, it could have been misinterpreted that by "ill" they may have meant "mental illness", but to me it seemed likely it'd been cancer or the likes, it wasn't until I came here I learned it had supposedly been a vaguely mentioned heart condition.

I took her profound sadness when reading Eilise's letters to be that she knew she was dying and that she would probably never see Eilise again. It never struck me for a moment that her sadness could be jealousy or the echoes of the life she'd never have. It honestly seemed to me Rose and Eilise were extremely close - I somehow even felt that it had been likely Rose had brought Eilise up (she seemed older) while Mother probably worked, or the likes. Rose's reactions to Eilise's letters seemed more like the pining of a mother for her child than a sibling pining for another. Just my interpretation though.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We've become a race of peeping toms.

Rose knew she wasn't well and sending Eilish to America for a fresh start was her last gift to her sister. She knew she had only a short time left, and knew Eilish would have a bleak future if she stayed in Ireland. Rose was selfless in her love for her sister.