As they hear Sive approach, Mena tells Thomasheen to go and she will sort the marriage by herself. Sive enters and tells them that her bike had a puncture. Mena offers her tea and cake before her dinner and the stage directions show that she is, ‘too surprised to reply.’ Mena is putting on a show for Sive, being nice to her to try to get her on her side. She broaches the subject of her education and says that there will be no need for education with the chance of marrying a rich man. She tells her, ‘Think of the handling of thousands and the fine clothes and the perfumery.’ Sive shakes her head but Mena continues. She tells her that she can bring Nanna with her and that they will both be comfortable with a servant boy and girl to tend to them.
Sive pleads with her to stop, asking, ‘How can you ask such a thing?’ Mena continues with the plan, ignoring Sive’s pleas. She says that Mike will go to the convent to tell them that she will no longer be attending school. Sive tells her that she ‘could never live with that old man.’ Mena tells her that that is just nonsense and that she knows what is best for her.
Mena paints a picture for Sive of going to mass on a Sunday in a motor car looking down on those that they pass. Sive is not convinced and says that she would be embarrassed to be seen in public with the old man. She imagines the girls in the convent laughing at her. Mena tells her that she will be independent and that that is all that matters.
Sive responds saying, “I will never marry such a man. I will not marry at all.” Mena tells her that she will change and that she should think of the way she was born. Sive, who has no knowledge of her mother or father is suddenly intrigued and asks Mena about her parents. Mena agrees to tell her.
Mena tells Sive that her father disappeared when he found out that her mother was pregnant. Sive says that her father drowned in England but Mena tells her that he ran away from his responsibilities and that her mother died of shame. Sive again asks about her father but Mena angrily shouts, “He was no father. He had no name. You have no name. You will have no name till you take a husband.” She continues, “you are a bye-child, a common bye child, a bastard.”
Sive gets up to go but Mena pushes her back and tells her that she will no longer sleep beside Nanna and she will no longer go to school. She tells Sive about her younger days when there were four sisters who shared the one bed and how the only way out of this misery was to marry a man. “We would fire embers of fire at the devil to leave the misery of our own house behind us, to make a home with a man, any man that would show four walls to us for his time in the world.”
The scene finishes with Mena sending Sive to her room to think about what she has said.
- Why do you think Mena has decided to separate Sive and Nanna?
- How does Mena try to get Sive to agree to the match? Use evidence from text to back up your answer.
- What is Sive’s reaction to the marriage?
- Describe what life was like for Mena when she was a young girl.
- What does Mena use to manipulate Sive when she refuses the marriage?
- Why is Sive so powerless in this scene?
Enda's English Notes 