Literary Commentary - Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
In 2007 Sebastian Barry published his novel The Secret Scripture. It deals with
the story of Roseanne McNulty who recalls her experience at an asylum in Ireland in
the 1930s. She was rejected by her husband for religious reasons and had a child with
her brother in law, Eneas. The religious theme seems to be central in this novel, the
title evokes itself the Holy Scripture. In this excerpt, Roseanne narrates her admission
in the hospital. Her child has been taken away and put in a Catholic orphanage. The
father comes to break her free, he takes her to a “green meadow” where she washes in
the river near it. This passage hinges around the word “Now” linked to the word
“memory”, these different steps show the progression of her memory.
How does her memory allow her to reach a new level of being throughout this
passage? First, I shall show that Roseanne is trapped by her physical and mental
weaknesses in this “hell”. Then, I shall show that she manages to access a new state
in her life thanks to a purification of herself and her memory.
This passage begins with Roseanne arriving at the hospital, she is wounded (“I
was still bleeding inside” line 5) and vulnerable (“Now I begin to encounter difficulties”
line 1). From the beginning, Roseanne is presented as if she were a child: Father
Gaunt reassures her in a motherly way (“I have even a memory of him holding me
while I wept” line 22), and she even cries out for her mother (line 21). It is tragic
considering that she is herself a mother (“my child” line 4), therefore, she has not yet
completely achieved the status of “mother”, she still depends on others (“I was going to
be taken care of” line 9). Furthermore, she is unable to reach her child since she does
not understand his situation. Her child is in a Roman Catholic orphanage called
“Nazareth” but she does not understand what this place is (“I didn’t know what he
In 2007 Sebastian Barry published his novel The Secret Scripture. It deals with
the story of Roseanne McNulty who recalls her experience at an asylum in Ireland in
the 1930s. She was rejected by her husband for religious reasons and had a child with
her brother in law, Eneas. The religious theme seems to be central in this novel, the
title evokes itself the Holy Scripture. In this excerpt, Roseanne narrates her admission
in the hospital. Her child has been taken away and put in a Catholic orphanage. The
father comes to break her free, he takes her to a “green meadow” where she washes in
the river near it. This passage hinges around the word “Now” linked to the word
“memory”, these different steps show the progression of her memory.
How does her memory allow her to reach a new level of being throughout this
passage? First, I shall show that Roseanne is trapped by her physical and mental
weaknesses in this “hell”. Then, I shall show that she manages to access a new state
in her life thanks to a purification of herself and her memory.
This passage begins with Roseanne arriving at the hospital, she is wounded (“I
was still bleeding inside” line 5) and vulnerable (“Now I begin to encounter difficulties”
line 1). From the beginning, Roseanne is presented as if she were a child: Father
Gaunt reassures her in a motherly way (“I have even a memory of him holding me
while I wept” line 22), and she even cries out for her mother (line 21). It is tragic
considering that she is herself a mother (“my child” line 4), therefore, she has not yet
completely achieved the status of “mother”, she still depends on others (“I was going to
be taken care of” line 9). Furthermore, she is unable to reach her child since she does
not understand his situation. Her child is in a Roman Catholic orphanage called
“Nazareth” but she does not understand what this place is (“I didn’t know what he
