The Country Girls Trilogy: Studying the History of Female Voice in 1960’s

Published in one volume, the three books known as The Country Girls is one of the most famous, beloved, influential, and scandalous Irish original created in the 20th century. Embodying a new chapter within Irish literature, The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien portrays an invocation of female characters who gamble in their pursuit for desire rather than seek the traditional domestic and sexual roles that most female characters within 20th century literature focus on. Many critics and readers considered this, in the time in which it was conceived, revolutionary. Even in a century best known for Irish novels satisfying the criteria for each of these categories, The Country Girls creation, along with its successful public uproar, holds a particular position within traditional literature. Continuing, the trilogy represents three phases within the female characters lives as they travel from their girlhood, to lose, and then ultimately marriage. Moving forward, this paper will attempt to present Edna O’Brian as not only a writer starting her debut in oppressive Ireland, but also as one who changes the way in which female agency is seen and respected within Irish culture; subsequently allowing O’Brien to create an authentic female voice which parallels the Irish condition. To explain, this topic comes to some importance because Edna O'Brien embodies a new chapter within Irish literature during the 1960’s by granting a voice for women who, until then, had never spoken so frankly or openly within the pages of books (Woodward 2). Additionally, this revels how the statues of female agency in Ireland began to change during the 1960’s.

In this way, I will be studying the history of female voice in the 1960’s through Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls Trilogy (1960). Furthermore, by taking it upon herself to write from her own Irish experience, O'Brien reveals that which is different, unprecedented, and entirely necessary within Irish culture. To start, in some societies the female is perceived as either personal property, a domestic slave, chattel, a sub-human, an object of sexual gratification, a personal servant, and can be seen as inferior as well as unintelligent, weak, and worthy of abuse. This position and relationship concerning the female in society is one continues to remain an argument in most if not all societies. Regardless of the ultraconservative, religious, and misogynistic society that is in Ireland, the moral hysteria— the fear encompassing a large number of people that presents an evil threating the well-being of society— that welcomed Edna O’Brien’s novella made it so that both it and O’Brien became era-defining symbols, as well as representatives, for the oppressed voices of Irish women. It may be interesting to note that although these books portrayed an honest representation of women in Ireland, the trilogy was nevertheless banned in Ireland due to its "inappropriate" sexual content. This banning managed to both upset and excite the public due to the fact that the trilogy— although much on the topic of female agency— shinned an unwelcomed light on the hidden human struggles enforced by the culture as well as the social and intellectual stagnation suffocating the country in the 1960’s. Because of the novels notorious, yet legendary, reputation of being banned by the Irish, censored for sexually explicit content, and publicly burned by a local parish priest in search of a post rosary drama, O’Brien herself became subjected vindictive, anonymous letters (Nunes 39). In addition to the novels scandalous reputation, it is important to understand the elements that forced the female voice in the 1960s to surface in such a way. Because of the historical and political state of women in Ireland, female writers were not individuals to be concerned about since, until this time, publishing books in Ireland “was a man's preserve” (Nunes 40). This comes to be important because the historical and political state of women in Ireland is personified in O'Brien's female character; rooting itself in the rural and political-isolation that is Ireland. These aspects contributed to O'Brien's childhood in Ireland and are reflected in the characters within the first two trilogies. Inevitable as this may be, one should not allow the book’s history to distract one from the literary and artistic treasure that is the novel itself.

The Country Girls, often referred to as the “quintessential tale of Irish girlhood”, is a beautifully written, vulgar, funny, and haunting novel that not only broke the mold in Irish culture, but rather it is one that cultivated it (Woodward). Continuing, with every aspect of female lives invaded and subject to the notions of a methodically prurient Catholic Church in which strongly opposes female emancipation, O’Brien’s call of female characters who desired more than what their nation desired of them— including emotional and intellectual denial— remains nothing short of profound. To summarize the novel, O’Brien’s trilogy encompasses internarrated stories surrounding two young girls from the country: Caithleen “Kate” Brady and Bridget “Baba” Brennan. With a rather interesting love/hate relationship, the two main characters whom have grown up together within the suffocating religious atmosphere of circa 1950s rural Ireland, enroll into a convent school before moving to Dublin. Their experiences with jobs, love affairs, sex, birth control, and religion make up the whole of the trilogy. Moving forward, when we first encounter Kate and Baba, they are still young schoolgirls. Kate lives with her gentle, hard working mother, who is something of a martyr in light of her violent alcoholic husband who terrorizes both women with frequent binges and financial ineptitude. We see this within the start of book one, as it creates a sense of uneasiness and discomfort, stating, “I waken quickly and sat up in bed abruptly. It is only when I am anxious that I waken easily and for a minute I did not know why my heart was beating faster than usual. Then I remembered. The old reason. He had not come home,” (O’Brien 3). Despite this, the family’s sole preserve and confident is Hickey— an underpaid farmhand whose simple warmth and reliability brings ease within the drink-torn household. Baba’s life on the other hand is drastically different. Daughter of the local vet, Baba possesses the self-confidence and ill-founded snobbery of a typical child born within the bourgeoisie. Although this may be the case, Baba— as she appears in the novel— is interchangeably jealous of Kate’s more than superior intellect and because of this Baba leans towards bulling and humiliating Kate.

Additionally, Kate feels helpless to stop Baba and her spiteful nature because, in some ways, she admires her. Thus, making for a rather interesting friendship. Continuing, Baba’s dependency on Kate becomes more apparent after the death of Kate’s mother— when Kate slowly begins to assert her independence from Baba. As the book progresses, readers come to find that Kate’s mother drowns while on route to visit another man. After the premature death of Kate’s mother, however, both girls start their journey as they are enrolled into a convent across the county. Where they endure through and spend the next few years of their adolescence. One character crucial to the novel and the development of the girls, is an older man who goes by the name of Mr. Gentlemen. Known for his lavish car, foreign accent, “thin cool mouth,” even temper and genteel aura of culture, Mr. Gentlemen embodies the old-world elegance perfect for capturing the imagination and eye of young Kate. Having been showing an ever increasing interest in the young girl since she was a mere school girl, Mr. Gentlemen also appears to be keen for the relationship to progress.

We see this throughout the first novel. The scenes between the would-be lovers as they steal brief moments together, away from the eyes of the public— especially Baba—, while in no way as graphic or explicit as the trilogies reception implies, remain among the most sexually charged in literature. Kates romantic and, later, physical longing, combined with the fear of her own inexperience and potential for proving a disappointment to him, make the scenes between the two beneficial to readers whom have ever loved beyond their reach. One scene that explains this is in regard to when Mr. Gentleman offers Kate a ride after seeing her waiting for the bus to Limerick. He takes her out to lunch at a rather spacious restaurant where he flirts with her, and on the way home in the car, he holds her hand. Innocent scenes like this show, within Kate, “the diametric opposition to the emotional mayhem her early life has prepared her to expect from men,” (O’Brian Epilogue). Moving along, although much to do with her characters and the Irish condition, Edna O’Brien has been asked by many critics is the books are autobiographical. This is due to the nature and similarities that both the book and its creator share. Born in County Clare, Edna O’Brien also went to a convent school before moving to Dublin as a single women where she obtained a job working at a pharmacy.

She marries a writer who, to no surprise, begins to grow jealous of his wife’s writing ability and intelligence; which becomes rather unbearable after the publication of book one in The Country Girls Trilogy. In one recent interview she replied, “The novel is autobiographical insofar I was born and bred in the west of Ireland, educated at a convent, and was full of romantic yearnings, coupled with a sense of outrage,” (William, “The Poor Creatures”). With its creation, O’Brien gives voice to the hidden experiences of a previously silenced generation of Irish women raised into violence, rape, forced pregnancy, innumerable dangerous childbirths, domestic bondage and more. Therefore, as much as the trilogy parallels the life of O’Brien, one of the many other reasons that The Country Girls gained notoriety and longevity has to do with the incredible speed in with it was conceived. O'Brien, in another interview with Claudia FitzHerbert, states, "I wrote The Country Girls in three weeks having blown the 50 quid advance. I was young, married with two small children, and whenever I met people, I was spouting poetry. I had this thing that writing was real – I mean other people's writing – literature, great literature, not rubbish. ” To summarize the trilogy again, in the span of three weeks, O’Brien captivates readers by telling the story of two young girls in rural Ireland, suffocated by the oppressive nature of the catholic church and, with the lack of any positive female influence, belittled by the nature of the patriarchal society in which they were brought up in. The trilogy as a whole comes to be important to O'Brien as well as the many silenced females in Ireland, because in this way the narrative itself emphasizes the importance of female development as it pertains to the early lives of young women within the harsh reality of Irish culture. In conclusion, Edna O'Brien's first book, The Country Girls, compose of three novels foretelling the story of two young girls as they find their way in a world with little help from outside resources. Set in the rural setting of Ireland, the trilogy is set in a patriarchal society controlled by the domineering culture of the Catholic Church.

Because of this way of thought, the female agent is often regarded as weak, worthy of abuse, unintelligent and seen as property and must serve in domestic servitude. Going beyond the boundaries of traditional Irish literature, Edna O’Brien brings a sense of fearlessness within her trilogy by creating feelings of physical and emotional isolation and loneliness. She does so by intermingling different elements of the Irish condition into the lives of her characters, and in doing so embodies the Irish woman who are consistently repressed and victimized. In this way, through three stages of development— isolation and loneliness, a search for love and escape, and finally, a return to loneliness— The Country Girls showcases the hidden human cost of a rigorously enforced cultural, as well as the social and intellectual stagnation that was already suffocating the country long before the books creation.