Rose Brady Moran: A Character StudyEssay Preview: Rose Brady Moran: A Character StudyReport this essayRose Brady Moran: A Character StudyIn most families people expect the dynamics to be patriarchal, and the Moran family in John McGaherns Amongst Women is no different. Michael Morans character grabs the readers attention and keeps it throughout the entire book, but it is with Rose that we learn the true dynamics of the Moran family. Rose is the character with whom the reader may identify the most as through her, we experience the quirks of the Moran family and the way they interact. She becomes an integral part of the family from the moment she meets them. Moran is the character that we are trying to understand and Rose is our medium for that, which makes her just as important. Moran eclipses Rose with the power of his presence, but Rose is ever-present in the background.
Rose Brady spent twelve years in Glasgow before returning to nurse her sick father. Moran first meets her in the post office, offering condolences, and it is in this meeting that her interest is piqued in the older man who would soon be her husband. Rose decides to go after Moran romantically and strategically plans her attack. “Her interest was too great. She had too little time. There was too much of the outlaw about him that held its own fascination. Painfully and in the open she had to make all the running (25).” Aside from herself and the Moran family, no one seemed to approve of this decision. “This unseemly chase after love was viewed with a hostile, overall amusement, for love had left Annie and Lizzie – and many far younger – long behind and was valued like jaundice (25).” She faced reproach from the entire town, but endured. This is evidence of Roses strength of character, her own feeling of separateness, and her determined nature.
Upon marrying Moran, Rose immediately takes the place of the mother figure that Maggie has been fulfilling in the Moran childrens life. Rose seems to effortlessly fit the mold of wife to Moran and mother to Maggie, Mona, Sheila, and Michael. “All their eyes were turned on Rose but she, with just a glance at Moran, took up the Second Mystery as if she had been saying it with them all the nights of their lives (48).” The prayer was an important part of the Moran familys life; it was said every night by every member of the family and was another way for Moran to exert control over them. The ease with which she joined this nightly ritual is representative of how easily she fit into the family. The Moran family is known for its sense of separateness from the outside world, and though Rose is originally an outsider, she seems to belong with them.
As Rose takings on the caretaking duties of the house, Maggie now has time to have her own life. As if Maggie was her own child, Rose tries to look out for her best interest. She succeeds in convincing Moran to allow Maggie to go to nursing school in London where his oldest child, Luke, had failed. Rose only wants what is best for Maggie, which she explains to Moran. “Im far from against you, you know that. I want it for her own good. This place will always be here for her to come home to as long as I breathe. (50)” It is because Moran believes that Rose wants this for Maggies own good rather than selfish reasons that Moran complies. Moran knows that once his child is away from home, he will lose some control over her. Rose seems to know how to manipulate Morans decisions to still make him feel as if he is in control of the situation.
Rose is more open-minded than Moran. She sees the outside world while Moran himself is closed off from it. So she is more able understand his children and their desires for their own lives. While Moran would rather they not move away and have their own lives, she encourages them to find their own ways. Moran feels a loss of control with the children gone, but externalizes it when he says, “How will they fare without us? (90)” Rose replies with what Moran is truly feeling but unable to admit, “How will we fare without them? (90)” While Moran lets his feelings show in a roundabout way that even his children sometimes have trouble understanding, Roses feelings are straightforward. Sometimes, it seems as if shes displaying his feelings for him.
Sheila and Mona do very well on their exams and when Moran discusses it with the women at the post office, he downplays this saying that its not a big deal. She does her best to make Moran understand why his daughters are hurt by this. “The girls looked at him with wide-eyed hurt. They felt that he had let them down in front of others. Theyll think that you are running down your own children. Rose articulated what they felt (86).” She also does her best to help his daughters understand his perspective. “Well, thats the way Daddy is, Rose argued. He probably thought thats what would please you the most. Hes so proud of you all. He thought he might do you harm if he allowed it to show. (86)”
Rose plays the peacekeeper and mediator between Moran and his children. For his children, she is both a mother and a friend. “Maggie had so little to do during the day that she spent much of the time chatting and gossiping with Rose (50).” Rose is able to gossip with her stepdaughters and loves them as her own children, and shares an understanding with them that Moran can never have. Also, when feelings between Moran and Michael start to get tense she succeeds in smoothing things over, if only temporarily. “Everybodys tired now. Well get to bed. Anything that has to be gone into can be gone into in the morning, Rose said. Moran glared at her. He seemed about to brush her out of the way to seize
” Rose took up the task of making the last of the remaining trinkets to move. In the evening Moran would make sure he only paid the bills, the children’s clothes, plus her two younger daughters, they wouldn’t get into one of the rugs. The only change her husband and sister made would be the price of an extra pair of shoes and she would spend the night cleaning the upstairs dining room, she said. This is not all that it was. It got worse.„ Rose’s daughter, Morgan, also went back in time. Her grandfather would be out and a family friend was playing an open game, and Rose said they could no longer call her by a proper name. They didn’t want to hurt her; they just wanted to have fun. But she didn’t really care, she just wanted to get out of the rags at the next game or the next thing.\#8223; Her last game took place on his deathbed, but by the time her family came to think their last wishes might be granted, something bad had happened to her father. The family had been unable to pay for the rags or the meal because their first son was dead. Moran, the new leader of her tribe, would try to keep his son away from her. At that moment a great wave of sadness came down. And she wouldn’t back down since the next morning would mean another death: if the sun had set then a lot of her children would perish. She would say never again in my presence or anywhere else. But Moran would give the rags and the meals up in the hope that they would not get lost. He would use his position as chief of his tribe as a bargaining stick to get the rags and meals for his family. He could try to keep the rags and her daughters out of the rags and prevent them ever from coming back. This was not how he wanted her. Her mother and daughter would also stay out of it, except for Morris who would be there to assist. For these children? No, if one of the girls had only a few weeks left, her mother would want to see the other. She wished for the time away from the rags, while she could still give Moran the trinkets together for her and her children. But no matter how many rags and meals Moran gave up to protect her family, her daughter would not be able to provide her for them either. The little girl that Moran entrusted to look after her was eventually killed. Moran was in a bad mood and was just going to have fun. But he was no longer worried about anything, so the