Brigid  

By:Mary Lavin

Summary:Brigid is set in Ireland, a little island in Europe. It is always rainy, and is really green. Ireland is also one of Western Europe’s poorer nations. Brigid is about a family that is not entirely wealthy living with some issues. The mother in the story is unidentified, but the father is Owen. Their house was in the middle of trees, and they were surrounded by field of cattle. Owen and the women had two daughters who were always out and rarely ever home. The love in the family was weak between the women and Owen. The family was always talked about in the town because of Brigid. Brigid was the mother’s sister and she didn’t live with them. Aunt Brigid lived in a house across the field and that is where she stayed. Everyone talks in the town on how Brigid is crazy and she needs to get in a nursing home. The mother wants her to be safe and in a home and Owen is completely against the whole thing. That is what Owen and the his wife always fight over; they never talk about anything else. Their love has weakened for one another and they can’t trust each other. When they get in there fights Owen walks out the door and down the field. One day the girls come in from there outing and their mother asked if they saw where their father went.

History:Brigid takes place in the island Ireland. In the story the name Brigid is mentioned. Brigid is the mentally ill sister of the sister and Owen, the husband.

Brigid by definition is the Celtic goddess of fire, poetry, healing, childbirth, and unity, and is celebrated in many European countries. She is known by many names, including that of Saint Brigid who is, perhaps, the most powerful religious figure in Irish history. In the story, Brigid the sister who is mentally ill would always sit by the fire and talk to herself, maybe the fire told her something that no one else could? The reason she is the Goddess of fire is because she was successful and born into a very powerful family. Trying to connect the Goddess of Brigid to the Brigid in the story isn't really connecting. I can't see why that a mentally ill sister could be named after such a strong and powerful Goddess who was all about peace and unity.http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/celtic-goddess-brigid.htm

Culture: Brigid is a Irish based story about conflicts about love, marriage and family. It is told from the tale that one should never put his or hers mentally ill great uncle or sister/ aunt in a mental nursing home.

In this story they talk about the wife's sister Brigid and how she is mentally ill and that the wife wants her to be in a nursing home even though that is completly forbidden in the irish culture, but on the other hand her husband owen wants her to stay in the little house across the field and never come out. The husband may be for the culture traditions, but he wants her to take care of herself; he is not really going to take care of her, he just doesn't want her in a home. 

The author my have got the idea of writing this novel because she too grew up in Ireland at age 10 and maybe her parents had conflict between them and inspired her to write Brigid.                                                                                                                       

Author's Opinion:I think that the author wrote this piece to show what fights between parents could turn out to be. She may also have wrote it to show the conflict of love between husband and wife, and maybe between the married couple and her sister. This story also shows in my opinion that you shouldn't get married into a family with two different beliefs. The women wanted to put her sister in a nursing and Owen, the husband was against it and that is all they would talk about, and fight about.

Self Evaluation: