she only wanted to marry tony once he showed him that he has land and was ready to leave him or Jim because jim was wealthy. She only came back because she had no other choice. She was completely motivated by money. She a hoe
shareI think you might want to watch this movie again. You didn't quite understand what was going on.
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That bothered me about the character, too. She was dating while she was away, plain and simple. I understand how she could have felt conflicted and still have had dreams about coming back "home," and that explains a lot of it, but still, she demonstrated that she had developed enough firmness of character in Brooklyn to not have succumbed to cheating on her husband while back in Ireland, even if it was in a mild way.
shareTotally agree! It's not like she was even gone for long before she started 'dating' someone!! She can't have loved Tony much. It made me angry.
shareI'm so glad to that I was able to watch this movie and be so enchanted and felt so connected with the characters that I did not feel like I should judge them when they made questionable decisions that felt real and right for them.
To me Eilis is a young woman with a conflicted heart and just because I went on this journey of self-discovery with her does not mean that I expect her to be perfect all the time or that she should make the kinds of decisions I would.
What I love most about Eilis is that she is a brave, flawed three-dimensional character who feels deeply.
I watch movies to explore stories about interesting, complicated characters going through interesting and complicated and exciting and life-affirming experiences - not to morality lessons about how we should live our lives.
We can debate the rights and wrongs of falling in love with two people all day but that fact that it felt real and right for Eilis in the telling of her character development in this story is what matters most of all.
Well said, Julie.
"Are you stupid or just willfully ignorant?" - only people who'd never in a million years say that to someone's face would bother to say that on the internet. Such bravery behind the little keyboard.
Why you'd get so worked up as to call someone stupid over the comment I made is an example of someone who is disturbed. You must've been cheated on and still haven't gotten over it. Poor baby. It'll get better. There there.
Anyway, the movie showed that Eilis was torn between the responsibility she felt for her mother and sister, both of whom she loved dearly and could no longer see or talk to anymore, in her original home of Ireland and her new home in Brooklyn with Tony. When her sister died and her mother was all alone there was a wrenching decision to be made: go back to Brooklyn and her husband and leave her mother all alone where she (her mother) is certain to be brokenhearted and miserable for the rest of her days or marry Jim and essentially save her mother. Jim's presence (which she clearly did not seek out) gave her window to a life in which she could be there for her mother. There was tremendous guilt over levying her family in the first place but then when her mother is left all alone after Rose dies that guilt increases exponentially.
And the OP called her a "hoe" - that's absurd. The movie gave no indication that Eilis even so much as kissed Jim much less hd sex with him. She allowed Jim to believe that he stood a chance with her and that itself was too far considering she had her husband back in Brooklyn. Eilis is not considered a saint for her cations but for viewers to remain angry with her means they missed the struggle and pull which was the whole point of the movie.
Funny. You are demonstrating the very thing you are attempting to criticize with your internet condescension. I'd 100% call you an idiot to your face if you made such a comment in a discussion IRL. Aw, look at widdle Ricky, thinks he's a mature big boy calling me a coward. How cute. See, pretty stupid isn't it? That's why I'd call you stupid, here, or in real life.
You're wrong, sorry. Her conflict around her misplaced guilt for her mother has nothing to do with her out of line interaction with Jim, and the situation she repeatedly put herself in wilfully to the point of dating another man and having an emotional affair. You making excuses for her actions is exactly the flaw this fictional character had: not taking responsibility.
Surely she could have told her new husband that she made a mistake and couldn't leave her mother, without intentionally developing and nurturing a relationship that wasn't only unfaithful to Tony, but to the new man. Would that be hard to do? Yup. Welcome to life, where it's sometimes... hard, and stuff.
Hoe is not the right word. Unfaithful, irresponsible, pathetic, immature or feckless might be better. Hoe is extreme in this situation, but it's not "absurd" as you put it.
She pissed me off too, but I guess the Jim vs. Tony decision was supposed to be symbolic of the whole Ireland vs. Brooklyn struggle.
She left Ireland because there was nothing there for her. She had no interest in meeting a guy, had a crap job and no responsibilities since Rose took care of both her and her mother. When she returned to Ireland with her newfound confidence and poise, a whole world that didn't exist previously, one she admitted she wished had existed before.
Had that existed previously, she probably never would have left. Getting a peak at would could have been was the temptation that created the conflict and drama for the story.
I too found myself judging her, but that part of the story was more a physical manifestation of what all of us have played out in our heads at one time or another, like "What if I'd married someone else?"
Nice analysis. To boil it all down-
Young girl has a tough life, no opportunities, etc.. So decides to flee for Ameri$$$a.
Once over there a bit, she is not doing too badly, gets a job, goes to night college, meets a nice plumber, but one who has ambitions for bigger and better things.
Crisis emerges, she goes back to her home turf, and this time round everything seems to get thrown onto her lap- Good job, wealthy bachelor interested in her, etc...
Ok, it was immoral, but young people often make mistakes. Mrs. Kelly kind of slapped her back into reality, and I think she realized her second go round in Ireland, was built upon fantasy. So she made the adult and responsible decision, to head back to the other life she had created for herself. Morally questionable? Yes. Whorish? Not so much.
I don't think Ellis was "whorish' at all! In fact, she went back to Ireland to visit her family after her sister Rose passed away, and to attend the wedding of Nancy, her best friend. She worked a part-time job during her visit to Ireland in order to save up money to get on a boat and go back to Brooklyn, NY.
shareDidn't really think that myself but to each his, or her, own.
shareSo glad people agree with this. You dont *beep* marry someone, then leave and go and hang out with another guy and start falling in love with him. If you didnt love Tony, then you shouldnt have married him.
shareI wouldn't go so far as to call the woman a 'hoe', but as protagonists go there is a LOT to dislike. If the protagonist were male the story wouldn't have carried at all. And to a reasonable viewer, nor does this story of a vacuous and unfaithful woman.
The Gleeson character dodged a bullet imo.
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It was not that she was conflicted mostly about abandoning her mother. She would have a job and a relationship and any of would be tempted if we were in her decisions. Nothing in life is cut and dry. In the end she went back to her husband. I'm not sure that would classify her as a "hoe".
shareWhy are you sorry, and a "hoe" is a gardening tool.
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