A Nest of Simple Folk by Seán O'Faoláin
"A Nest of Simple Folk" by Seán O'Faoláin is a novel set in early 20th-century Ireland that explores themes of family, class, and social conflict. The story revolves around the Foxe family, who reside in the isolated manor of Foxehall. The narrative primarily follows Judith Foxe, who marries a farmer named Long John O'Donnell, leading to her estrangement from her aristocratic sisters, Rachel and Anna. The novel delves into Judith's struggles to secure a future for her son Leo amidst the harsh realities of rural life and familial obligations.
Complicated by issues of inheritance, the plot reveals how Judith manipulates her husband's dying wishes to ensure Leo inherits property that James, the eldest son, believes is rightfully his. As Leo grows up, his experiences shape him into a disillusioned figure, caught between his family's legacy and his own moral dilemmas. The story further addresses the tensions arising from Leo's failed ambitions and descent into idleness, ultimately culminating in his involvement with revolutionary activities against social injustices.
Through its portrayal of personal and societal turmoil, "A Nest of Simple Folk" provides a poignant commentary on the complexities of identity and belonging within the socio-political landscape of Ireland during this period. The novel is rich in character development and offers insights into the ramifications of choices made within the fabric of family life and national identity.
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A Nest of Simple Folk by Seán O'Faoláin
First published: 1933
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Regional
Time of plot: 1854-1916
Locale: Ireland
Principal characters
Leo Foxe-Donnell , an Irish patriotJudith , his motherJulie , his wifeJohno O’Donnell , the son of Julie and LeoJohnny Hussey , a police officerBid , his wifeDenis , the son of Bid and Johnny
The Story:
Foxehall is a bleak, remote manor house, and the family that owns it keeps to themselves. Rachel and Anna Foxe are content to live prim maiden lives, poverty-stricken remnants of a landed family. Judith Foxe, however, marries Long John O’Donnell, a secretive farmer. Judith is cut off with a dowry of five fields as a punishment for marrying beneath her station; for seventeen years, she does not see her sisters. The marriage is a good one for Long John. Poor as he is, he feels that Judith’s five fields were good pay for taking an unattractive wife. When their tenth child, Leo, is born, Rachel condescends to sponsor him. Afterward, it seems to Judith that Leo is her only true son. When her husband is near death, she is determined that Leo should be the heir.
James, the oldest son, works like a servant for his harsh father. As the oldest, he will inherit the home farm. Phil is next in line; by rights, he should have had the five fields. Long John obstinately refuses to make a will; as he grows weaker, however, Judith harries him into telling a lawyer how the property should be distributed. She also dresses Leo in Phil’s clothes and tricks her weak, dying husband into pointing to Leo as the heir to the five fields. By this act, James inherits only the heavily mortgaged home farm and the obligation to find husbands for his numerous sisters. Leo is given the five free fields, with Phil receiving only what James will share with him.
After the funeral, James drives the family home. Young Leo senses James’s state of mind and offers to give him all the land, an offer which infuriates the older brother. James whips Leo savagely and drives him off the farm. Leo goes to live with his maiden aunts. Rachel and Anna do their best to make a genteel aristocrat of their rough and surly nephew. Nicholas, a ne’er-do-well, is his tutor, and Nicholas himself is rough. A long debate ensues over Leo’s future as a doctor or a gentleman farmer. Leo has little preference, but when he is sent to Limerick to study with Dicky, his doctor cousin, he goes willingly enough.
Nicholas is influential in molding the boy’s sympathies and accompanies him on the journey. Because the tutor had told him of the past insults and atrocities by the aristocracy, Leo becomes angry at the injustices suffered by the poor farmers. In Limerick, the two call on Frankie O’Donnell, Leo’s uncle, a tavernkeeper who is a revolutionary at heart. The rough welcome there is in sharp contrast with his treatment at Doctor Dicky’s house. The old doctor is a gruff Protestant and a teetotaler. Leo is out of place in his country clothes. After a trial term, Leo is sent home in disgrace; he has no aptitude for medicine.
For years, Leo lives an idle and dissolute life. After his aunts die, he becomes the owner of Foxehall. Taking no care of the property, he hunts, carouses, and chases girls. One of them, Philly Cashen, is turned out of old Mag Keene’s house because of her pregnancy. Distraught, Philly goes to Foxehall. Although she knows that Leo is guilty, Judith refuses to help the girl. At last, Judith leaves her youngest son and his fine house and returns to live with James. Philly is not the only girl Leo ruins; another is Julie Keene, who is too young to have been able to resist him successfully.
The Fenian spirit pervades the countryside. Although a landowner, Mad Leo joins the plotters and leads a raid on the police post. By chance, Julie sees them and runs to warn another sweetheart of hers, a detective. The plotters are seized, and Leo is sentenced to fifteen years in jail. While he is in prison, his mother dies, but Leo does not know of her death; his family never informs him. A change of government brings an amnesty, and after ten years, Leo is released.
Julie is still unmarried. Holding no grudge against her, Leo courts her again, and when she becomes pregnant, he mortgages his land to raise money to send her to Dublin. Julie gives birth to a boy, gives him away, and returns as happy as ever. Leo continues his shiftless ways and eventually loses his land to his grasping brother, James. Finally, with the help of a neighborhood priest, Leo is bullied into marrying Julie, and the strange couple set themselves up in a small paper shop in Rathkeale.
Bid, Julie’s pretty youngest sister, comes to live with them after a time. Before long, she is walking out with Johnny Hussey, a police officer. After innocent Bid visits the police barracks with Johnny, Leo questions her closely about the visit, for at the age of sixty, he is still an ardent Fenian. Bid assures Leo that the police officer has said nothing about him, but she half guiltily remembers some joking remarks she had heard. Leo is perturbed. Julie is almost hysterical and demands that Leo bring back their lost son. To quiet her, he finds Johno O’Donnell, now a twenty-year-old sailor, and brings him as a nephew to Rathkeale.
After Johnny searches Leo’s room and finds suspicious letters, the police begin to watch Leo carefully. Still a fiery patriot, Leo plans with his son, Johno, to bring into a river port a shipment of rifles that Johno smuggled aboard his ship. Leo and a few Fenians are waiting with a skiff to take them off when the police surprise them. Leo fires a warning shot. When an officer is wounded, the conspirators quickly row out into the foggy harbor and escape. Leo lands on the other shore. Returning to Rathkeale, he is arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.
Meanwhile, Johnny marries Bid. When he is transferred to Cork, they take Julie, now old and broken, with them. After Leo’s release from prison, the old couple see nothing to do but to live with Johnny, who had been promoted to the post of acting sergeant. Johno and his wife complete the family circle. Denis, Bid’s oldest boy, was always prim. Because Leo and Johno are gusty and loud, Johnny encourages his son to be different. Bid regards Denis as a potential scholar and plans for his education. Old Leo has a small shop where he sometimes takes bets. As always, he knows what is going on among the revolutionaries.
Bid takes in lodgers to get money for the boy’s schooling. Although she is always tired, her efforts seem worthwhile. Nevertheless, Denis is a disappointment to her. He has no head for studies and gives up his ambitions after he fails the civil service examination three times. Worse than that, he quarrels with his father.
Rifles are cracking all over Ireland. When an uprising breaks out in Dublin, Denis, after helping Leo and Johno to escape arrest, calls his father a police spy and takes shelter with the O’Donnells. Like Ireland, his is a house divided.
Bibliography
Arndt, Marie. A Critical Study of Sean O’Faolain’s Life and Work. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2001. Critical biography that places O’Faoláin’s achievements in their historical and political context. Argues that despite O’Faoláin’s attempts to portray himself as an internationalist, he remained attached to his Irish roots.
Bonaccorso, Richard. Seán O’Faoláin’s Irish Vision. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987. A survey of the main phases of O’Faoláin’s career, evaluating A Nest of Simple Folk within that career. The analysis of the novel concentrates on its treatment of individuality. Includes a comprehensive bibliography.
Doyle, Paul A. Seán O’Faoláin. New York: Twayne, 1968. A general introductory survey of all O’Faoláin’s writings. The discussion of A Nest of Simple Folk deals with its sense of historical context and its narrative development. Contains a chronology and a bibliography.
Harmon, Maurice. Seán O’Faoláin: A Critical Introduction. 2d ed. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1984. An insightful overview of O’Faoláin’s career. Discusses his contributions to Irish intellectual life and his major works. The evaluation of A Nest of Simple Folk is guided by a sense of the conflict between the individual and society in O’Faoláin’s novels. Includes an extensive bibliography.
Kiely, Benedict. “Sean O’Faolain: A Tiller of Ancient Soil.” In A Raid into Dark Corners, and Other Essays. Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press, 1999. Kiely, an Irish writer and literary critic, assesses O’Faoláin’s novels and short stories.
O’Brien, Conor Cruise. “The Parnellism of Seán O’Faoláin.” In Maria Cross: Imaginative Patterns in a Group of Catholic Writers, edited by Donat O’Donnell. 2d ed. London: Burns and Oates, 1963. Intellectually sophisticated, culturally wide-ranging, critically incisive analysis of certain key features in O’Faoláin’s major works, among them history, tradition, and memory. Assesses how these features shape the narrative of, and constitute authorial identity in, A Nest of Simple Folk.
O’Faoláin, Seán. Vive Moi!: An Autobiography. Boston: Little, 1964. Author’s autobiography presents prototypes of the landscape, characters, and rural sensibility featured in A Nest of Simple Folk. The contrast between fictional and autobiographical perspectives is critically revealing.