Edna O’Brien’s Sister Imelda: Themes and Analysis
Edna O’Brien’s Sister Imelda
Edna O’Brien (Sister Imelda)
Edna O’Brien (born 15 December 1930 in Tuamgraney, County Clare, Ireland) is an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet, and short story writer. She worked for some time as a maid for a well-off Irish-American family. She was educated by the Sisters of Mercy, which affected her life. In 1950, she was awarded a license as a pharmacist. O’Brien was a panel member for the first edition of the BBC’s Question Time in 1979.
She is considered the “doyenne” of Irish literature.
O’Brien’s works often revolve around the inner feelings of women and their problems in relating to men and society as a whole. Her first novel, The Country Girls, is often credited with breaking the silence on sexual matters and social issues during a repressive period in Ireland following World War II. The book was banned, burned, and denounced from the pulpit, and O’Brien left Ireland behind.
O’Brien now lives in London.
She received the Irish PEN Award in 2001, among others. Recently, in 2013, she received the Irish Book Award for “Country Girl”.
Summary of Sister Imelda
Sister Imelda was a beautiful young nun. The narrator and the other girls in the convent pitied her because they thought she was alone and they couldn’t understand why she changed the hectic world for the convent.
The narrator wasn’t good at geometry, and Sister Imelda, in one of her lessons, threw a duster at her in rage. The girls in the convent told her to inform her parents, but she didn’t. After that, Sister Imelda put a holy picture in her book, and the narrator thanked her. She was known as Sister Imelda’s pet because she was like serving her.
The narrator started liking the convent since she started to be close to Sister Imelda. Everybody liked Sister Imelda.
The narrator wanted to know more about Sister Imelda, and she asked her things like her hair’s color.
Once, in the Christmas theatricals, the narrator had to represent a role, and she was very nervous, but Sister Imelda calmed her. After the Christmas holidays, Sister Imelda went to see her and welcomed her. And she told her that she missed her, but that they couldn’t be attached.
Even if they were separated, the narrator knew that there was a kind of bond between her and Sister Imelda.
Sister Imelda’s brother died, and everyone was sad for her. After that, the narrator got the flu, and Sister Imelda sent her an orange and a pencil. In Easter, the narrator gave her a flashlamp, which Sister Imelda liked, and since the children were going to return to their homes, Sister Imelda told her her hair’s color.
At first, the narrator and Sister Imelda wrote to each other, but after the narrator stopped writing to her.
She went to the university in Dublin. One day, they were going to Howth on a bus, and in the same bus, they saw Sister Imelda. The narrator didn’t want Sister Imelda to see her. She couldn’t face her because she stopped writing to her and had broken the promise. But Sister Imelda, the other nun, and the children stopped at a stop before them, so they didn’t face them. After that, the narrator felt worse than if she had confronted them.
Character Analysis
- Author: Edna O’Brien
- Narrator: Another character
- Protagonist: Yes
- Co-protagonist: Sister Imelda
- 1st person voice
Time Setting
- Time of the history: Present (51 years old)
- Time of the story: Past (21 years old)
Themes
- Inability to confront the real moment. Through reality, we’re living with conventions, and it’s difficult to affront reality.