Lonely passion and other woes : the female discovery of self in the fiction of Brian Moore
Date
1986
Authors
Chamberlain, Timothy
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Abstract
The fiction of Brian Moore chronicles the individual's struggle to overcome forces of oppression in both the Old and New World; in particular, it depicts the process by which his female protagonists surmount the patriarchal restraints of Church and marriage. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1955), I Am Mary Dunne (1966), The Doctor's Wife (1976) and Cold Heaven (1983) illustrate the female discovery of self that eventually results from the struggle to assert an independent sense of personal identity.
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne depicts the patriarchal hierarchy of a Belfast Church which stresses obedience to its laws and principles, yet lacks any degree of love or compassion. Judith Hearne, an alcoholic spinster who desperately seeks the love of any man, seeks solutions to her troubles from within the rigid structure of the Church. In the absence of the matriarchal qualities of acceptance and unconditional love, the essentially patriarchal Church portrayed in Judith Hearne forces the individual to conform to a predetermined mold or pattern; thus, Judith Hearne eventually abdicates any sense of personal responsibility or identity, becoming an indigent patient in a convalescent home.
The oppression of the Church is largely absent in I Am Mary Dunne and The Doctor's Wife; in its place, the institution of marriage exerts a form of patriarchal oppression upon Mary Dunne and Sheila Redden. Both women reject their authoritarian husbands and find temporary refuge in new relationships based on unconditional love. Yet both women feel threatened by their current partners' fame or social recognition. Having escaped domineering husbands, Sheila Redden and Mary Dunne must spend time alone to develop an independent sense of self; otherwise, they risk fusing their more fragile, developing identities to those of their male partners, thus thwarting their respective drives to establish independent identities.
In Cold Heaven the protagonist, Marie Davenport, associates the patriarchal domination of her father, an experience of her youth, with the male hierarchy of .the Catholic Church. Through the understanding of a tolerant Church, a Church in which patriarchal and matriarchal principles are now effectively blended, Marie resolves her personal crisis. The miracle at Carmel, and Marie's reaction to it, force the protagonist to embark upon a journey of self-discovery in which she discovers that the Church is not her enemy, and that she is free to choose between belief and non-belief.
If one seeks a happy reconciliation between God and woman in Cold Heaven, then one will ultimately be disappointed, for the non-belief encountered by Judith Hearne becomes the essential philosophy of Marie Davenport, miracles notwithstanding. Yet Moore does present a positive philosophy that hinges on t e importance of the female discovery of self within a patriarchally determined society. Given the successful integration of matriarchal and patriarchal principles within the institutions of Church and marriage, society will become more tolerant, hence providing the necessary environment that will nurture the continued growth and development of the female identity .