What is the role that the women play in Amongst Women?

In John McGahern's novel Amongst Women, the main character is a man, Michael Moran. But many of the story's other important characters are women: specifically Moran's second wife, Rose; and his daughters, Maggie, Mona, and Sheila.

So what role do these women play? They are Moran's family, and Amongst Women is a story about the complexities of familial relationships.

When the novel opens, Moran is an old man, and his grown daughters are taking...

In John McGahern's novel Amongst Women, the main character is a man, Michael Moran. But many of the story's other important characters are women: specifically Moran's second wife, Rose; and his daughters, Maggie, Mona, and Sheila.

So what role do these women play? They are Moran's family, and Amongst Women is a story about the complexities of familial relationships.

When the novel opens, Moran is an old man, and his grown daughters are taking care of him. Right off the bat, we see how the women in Moran's life are devoted to him. They have their own children and their own lives in Dublin and London, but they choose to be by their father's side instead, trying to cheer him up and make him feel better.

The daughters' loyalty to their father feels more remarkable as the story goes on and we realize what their family life has been like. Most of the story is told to us in flashbacks, as the characters look back to the past. Moran fought in the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War, and he is scarred by the experience (in addition to feeling nostalgic about it). After his return from the war, he is cruel and often violent to his wife and children. His oldest son, Luke, escapes his father's violence and never returns, only staying in communication via telegram. Moran's younger son, Michael, also fears his father and ultimately tries to get away from him, moving to London.

Moran's three daughters, on the other hand, remain close to their father despite his bad behavior. Like their stepmother, Rose, they quietly tolerate Moran's rage; even when they are older and living elsewhere, they return home frequently to see their father.

Amongst Women is, in part, about the difficulties of communication between generations of a family and about the conditions of loving someone. For Moran's sons, love for their father is conditional; for the women in the novel, it isn't. The women in the story are representations of patience, loyalty, and love, even though the object of their love doesn't necessarily deserve it.