Director John Crowley

(Film based on novel by

TEXT: BROOKLYN Colm Toibin)
 ELLIS
LACEY
Lives in a small Irish town (Enniscorthy)
Leaves Ireland for a new life in America
The film is about her life and how she
finds herself torn between her new life in
Brooklyn and her old life in Ireland.
She is a bright and intelligent young
woman, who is finding it difficult to
progress in her small town in the 1950’s
KEY
When Rose helps Ellis
pack her suitcase.

MOMEN
T– They are nearly in tears as
they prepare Ellis for her

CLOSEN
journey to America “I should
have looked after you
better”, but Ellis reminds her

ESS she “brought most of the

clothes in the case”

(SISTER Rose tells her “she would

S) spend every penny on you

gladly, but I can`t buy you a
future, the kind of life you
need”
 When Rose and her
mother wave goodbye
to Ellis from the
dockside as the ship is
about to set sail for
New York.

KEY MOMENT –
CLOSENESS
(FAMILY)
CHARACTER -
ELLIS
The journey to America
exposes Ellis’ inexperience
and naivety.
She shares a tiny berth in 3rd
class with a girl called
Georgina, who is an
experienced traveller.
GEORGINA

Great support for

Outgoing – in stark
Ellis on the difficult
contrast to the
journey and a
reserved (Shy)
splendid travelling
heroine (Ellis)
companion.
KEY MOMENT -
FRIENDSHIP

She sorts out the problem

She assists Ellis in selecting
when the people in the
suitable clothes to wear
neighbouring berth try to
while disembarking and
take control of the joint
getting through
bathroom and she helps
immigration and helps her
Ellis cope with her sea
with her make-up
sickness.
 Lives in a boarding house for women run by
a formidable landlady called Mrs Kehoe.
Ellis experiences deep feelings of sadness
and looks forward to receiving a letter from
home

HER She works in Bartocci`s (an upmarket

department store) and finds it difficult
NEW because of her homesickness
Father Flood helps Ellis cope with her
LIFE homesickness and loneliness. He helps her
get into night school and she eventually
succeeds in gaining a qualification in
bookkeeping and accounts.
At Christmas he invites her to help out with
the dinners he provides for the old Irish men
left behind in New York.
 FIRST
IMPRESSI
ONS OF List of Adjectives to
describe Eilis

ELLIS -
-
-
-
-
-
Write a list of adjectives to
describe Eilis
Ellis Lacey

Heroine

Naïve/inexperience

Bright/intelligent

Finding it difficult to progress in her small home

town
Close relationship with her family

Coveys deep feelings of sadness and loneliness

Develops relationship with Tony Fiorello

DEVELOPING
RELATIONSHIP – TONY
FIORELLO
Italian plumber. He
attends a dance in the
They begin dating
Catholic parish hall and
meets Ellis.

The relationship deepens

and he frightens Ellis
He takes her to the beach
when he tells her that he
at Coney Island
wants their “kids to be
Dodgers fans”

Ellis begins to feel

happier now that she has
a kind, loving boyfriend –
Key Moment?
 Her boss at the
department store tells
her that she is “like a
different person” Why
do we think this is?

KEY MOMENT
 Ellis turns to comfort
first to Father Flood and
then Tony
He tells her to return
home even though he is
terrifies that she will not
return to New York
Key Moment: Tony
begins to move the
relationship on to the
next level when he
brings her to Long
Island and shows her the
fields where he and his
brother plan to build
WHEN ROSE houses.

DIES
KEY MOMENT
Tony tells Ellis that this is where they
would live and build their lives together,
should they ever get married.
She agrees to marry him.
Their secret marriage cements their
relationship as far as Tony is concerned.
She does not tell her mother about the
relationship.
 TORN She begins to settle back in her home torn
BETWEE and is offered a good job taking over
N Rose`s position in the accounts department
of a local firm.
BROOKL She is regarded with admiration in the town
YN AND as she has brought a certain glamour and
sophistication with her from America and is
ENNISCO no longer the innocent young girl who left
New York.
RTHY
 Unaware of her
daughter`s marriage in
America.
Delighted to see that
Jim Farrell (son of
local publican) is
taking an interest in
her daughter.

ELLIS`MOTHER
JIM FARRELL
Ellis finds that she is falling for Jim
Farrell.
He talks about getting engaged.
She is becoming attracted by the idea of
settling down in her home.
Everything she had ever wanted in her
home town is now coming true.
ELLIS'
DILEMMA

On the one hand there is her

deepening relationship with Key moment: She finds it
Jim Farrell but on the other hard to write to Tony and
hand she knows she has a does not open the many
duty to the man she hastily letters he sends her
married back in Brooklyn

She must also consider her

mother who is mourning the Ellis is torn between two
loss of her daughter Rose continents and two men who
and will be left all alone if both love her
she goes back to America
EMIGRATION AT
THE TIME OF
‘BROOKLYN’
How many Irish civilians travelled to the
USA in the 1950s?
Give on reason why so many people
emigrated at the time?
What state in the USA has the most irish
living there
What are top 3 countries Irish people have
emigrated to?
In 2023 how many young people
emigrated?
QUESTIONS
Eilis meets a man when she returns home,
who is he?
Do you think Tony misses Eilis, what does
he ask his younger brother for?
Do you think Eilis wants to return back to
New York?
What job does Eilis take for a few weeks
when she is home?
IN THE END..
It is the events outside her control that settle the issue.
Her indecision is resolved for her when Miss Kelly, the snobby shop
owner in Enniscorthy, reveals that she knows about Ellis' secret
marriage.
She books her return journey on the next available sailing and
tearfully tells her shattered mother that she is marred and must return
to her husband
Her mother is deeply upset but knows it is the correct course of
action
HAPPY ENDING
Ellis returned to America, joyfully clinging to her husband, who is
delighted to see her
MOVIE REVIEW
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN A
MOVIE REVIEW
o Opening Sentence: I recently watched
the movie Brooklyn starring Saoirse
Ronan and directed by John Crowley.
o Give a summary in about 3 lines of
what the film is about: This film is set in
the 1950s in both Ireland and New York. It
is about a young girl Elis…
oDiscuss what you liked about the film:
good actors?... The story line etc.
oDiscuss what you didn’t like about the
film: the ending.. A certain character?
oGive the film a rating: I would rate this
film a __ out of 10
THEME: LONELINESS
2007
A) Describe how your chosen theme was presented in one of the
texts.
* Opening paragraph for any question
The texts I studied for my comparative course are as follows: the film
Brooklyn direct by John Crowley and the play Eclipsed by Patricia
Burke Brogan. The theme I am going to discuss is loneliness.
Paragraph 2 – I am going to discuss the theme of loneliness in _____.
The play/film is set in Ireland in the 1960s (E) 1950s (B). Discuss
what happened to the main 4 girls / discuss how there was no jobs
prospects for Eilish.
THEME: LONELINESS
Paragraph 3 – The major cause of loneliness for the women
babies/families/boyfriends (discuss what happened each girl).
Brooklyn Eilis terrible experience on the boat waving goodbye to her
mam and sister, crying reading the first letters she receives.
Paragraph 4 – characters that either helped their loneliness or made it
worse. Mother Victoria give examples of her being mean. Brooklyn –
when Eilis met Tony at the dance (discuss how their relationship
developed)
Paragraph 5 – Eclipsed – ending Cathy died trying to escape,
Nobody heard from Brigit, Nellie Nora is suffering from social
anxiety, Rosa never gets to meet her birth mother Brigit.
Brooklyn happier ending Eilis reunites with Tony in New York.
Eilis’s mam and her love interest in Ireland Jimmy Farrell left feeling
lonely.
PART B TO THE
COMPARATIVE STUDY
2007 – B – Compare the way in which the same theme is presented
in a second text.
Paragraph 1 – I think the theme of loneliness is a lot more sever in
my second text ____ than in my first text _____. The girls suffered a
great deal of loneliness in the laundries. I am now going to compare
the different levels of loneliness in my two texts.
Paragraph 2 - One could argue the theme of loneliness is different
(paragraph 2 p.110) girls were forced/ Eilis decided to emigrate. The
people that were left behind we can see this more in Brooklyn than in
Eclipsed. (paragraph 3 p.111)
PART B – THEME
LONELINESS
Paragraph 3 – Compare the single girls in Mrs Kehoe’s house to the
girls in eclipsed. Scene of Shelia and Eilis in the bathroom
(paragraph 8 p.111) Girls can attend the dances unlike the girls in the
laundries. Letters arrive in the two texts (paragraph 2+3 p.112) the
pain and homesickness the letters cause.

Paragraph 4 – Eilis getting the chance to meet someone at the dances

(Tony) the girls in Eclipsed never got that opportunity (p.113) That
cured Eilis homesickness and loneliness the girls in the laundries
never got this opportunity.
PART B – THEME –
LONELINESS
Paragraph 5 – A similarity in the two texts there is two tragic deaths
of two young female women (paragraph 1+2 p.114)

Closing – Much happier ending in Brooklyn than in Eclipsed (p.114

last paragraph)