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STUDY GUIDE NAVIGATION Home Study Guides Small Things Like These Chapter 5 Summary and Analysis

About Small Things Like These Small Things Like These

Small Things Like These
Summary by Claire Keegan Buy Study Guide
Character List

Glossary

Themes
Chapter 5
Quotes and Analysis

Summary And Analysis

Small Things Like These
Dedication and Chapter 1

Chapter 2
Summary and Analysis of
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 4 Summary
Chapter 5
The weather forecast for the week of Christmas reads
Chapter 6
snow. Furlong closes his business for ten days around
Chapter 7
that time, so people call in a panic for last-minute orders.
Symbols, Allegory and Motifs
The last shipment of the year comes in late, and Furlong
Metaphors and Similes leaves Kathleen in charge of the office while he makes
Irony out-of-town deliveries and collects what his clients owe
Imagery him. Kathleen appears to be burnt out from the work. She
The Real-Life Magdalene hands her father an order from the convent, and he
Laundries
resolves to make the delivery on Sunday. The intense
Literary Elements workload leads Furlong to eat only a few biscuits and tea
Essay Questions for lunch, but he does take a moment to warm himself by
Quizzes - Test Yourself! the gas heater. When he realizes that the heater is
beginning to break down and not work, Furlong asks his
Quiz on Dedication,
Epigraph, and Chapters 1-2 daughter if she is warm enough. From her short answers
Quiz on Chapters 3-4 to his questions, he can tell that something is bothering
Quiz on Chapters 5-6 her. She tells him that she wanted to go out after work to
Quiz on Chapter Seven
enjoy some time with friends, but that Eileen had called
and said that Kathleen had to accompany her mother to
Citations
the dentist.
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Claire Keegan Biography

The next morning (a Sunday), the sky appears "strange

and close" with just a few dim stars visible. A dog
scavenges for food outside on the street, and the crows
caw. Furlong describes some of the birds as neat and trim
in appearance. They remind him of an assistant member
of the clergy who walks around town with his hands
behind his back.

Before going to work, Furlong gazes at his sleeping wife

and feels an acute need to touch her. But instead, he gets
up and dresses in the dark. Before going downstairs, he
checks on Kathleen because she'd had a tooth pulled the
day before. Loretta is the only one awake, and Furlong
asks if she's alright before going to the kitchen for a quick
breakfast of buttered bread.

Furlong makes his way to the workyard, feeling "the strain

of being alive" due to working early on what is meant to
be a day of rest. He finds the yard gate padlock frozen
shut, so he knocks on the door of a nearby household. An
unfamiliar young woman opens the door, wearing a long
nightgown and shawl. Her cinnamon-colored hair falls
nearly to her waist, and she walks barefoot as she
prepares breakfast for the children of the house. Furlong
recognizes the three young children sitting at the table as
they draw and eat raisins. He can't place the pleasant
smell wafting from the kitchen.

Furlong asks the woman for a hot kettle to melt the ice
from the padlock. Her accent indicates that she is from
the West. She gives Furlong the kettle, and when he
comes back to return it, he sees her pouring hot milk over
the children's cereal. The warmth and comfort of this
kitchen scene impact Furlong, who imagines what it
would be like to live there as the man of the house. Lately
he'd often imagined himself in other circumstances, and
wondered if this had to do with not knowing who his
father was. The woman offers Furlong tea, but he says he
has to get going. He also tells her that he'll have someone
drop off a bag of logs for the household.

Furlong anxiously rechecks that everything is in order. In

his office, he leaves a note about giving the logs to the
neighboring house, and lets the phone ring without
attending the call. Then, he sleepily drives to the convent
to make the delivery. A statue of Our Lady appears
"disappointed by the artificial flowers" laid at her feet.
Furlong thinks that the place is not peaceful despite its
stillness in the predawn. He looks down at the dark river
reflecting the town's lights, and thinks about how "so
many things [have] a way of looking finer" from far away.
He stands and watches one star streak and another burn
out before fading in the sky.

Upon opening the coal house door, Furlong senses that

there is someone or something inside. He assumes it is a
dog, but discovers that a girl had spent more than the
entire freezing night locked in the shed. Furlong sees in
the torchlight that she'd had to relieve herself and remain
next to the excrement. Furlong moves to put his coat
around her, but she cowers in fear. He blesses her and
coaxes her out of the shed in a gentle manner. A part of
Furlong wishes he hadn't come upon this scene.

Back at the truck, Furlong asks the girl why she had been
left in the shed. She doesn't reply, and Furlong is at a loss
for what to say to comfort her. He feels uncertain as he
takes her to the front door, but "[carries] on, as [is] his
habit." A nun gasps in surprise and quickly shuts the
door. Furlong questions what is happening at this
convent, but the girl stays quiet while burning a hole
through the door with her eyes. They stand on the front
step for a long time while Furlong considers his options.
Again, a part of him wishes to be rid of the situation and
go home.

When Furlong rings the doorbell again, the girl asks him
to inquire about her 14-week-old baby boy. She tells
Furlong that "they've" taken him away and she doesn't
know where he is. The Mother Superior opens the door
and smiles as she greets Furlong. They exchange
pleasantries and the Mother asks the girl where she'd
been, saying that they were going to call the police after
discovering that she wasn't in her bed. Furlong informs
the Mother that the girl was locked in the shed all night.
The Mother states that "this poor girl can't tell night from
day sometimes." She then insists that Furlong come in for
tea, which he feels extremely resistant to do.

In the back kitchen, girls peel turnips and wash cabbage

heads while the nun who'd answered the door stirs
something in a pot and minds the kettle. Furlong notes
how immaculately clean and shining everything is. He
even sees his reflection in a hanging pot. As Furlong
follows the Mother Superior onward, he points out that
they're leaving dirty tracks on the clean floor, to which
she says that it doesn't matter. She leads him to a big,
fine room with a lighted fire, a long table with a white
cloth, chairs, a mahogany sideboard with bookcases, and
a picture of John Paul II on the mantelpiece. The Mother
Superior tells Furlong to warm himself beside the fire as
she goes to purportedly take care of the girl. The young
nun from before carries in a tea tray with shaking hands,
dropping a spoon.

When the Mother Superior reenters, she asks Furlong

about how things are at home. She makes remarks about
his daughters progress in their music and academic
lessons, which they take at the girls' school run by the
convent. The Mother states that she hopes the youngest
Furlong girls will have a place at the school since there
aren't many available spots. Finally, she mentions that
Furlong must be disappointed in not having any boys "to
carry on the name." Furlong responds by saying that he
himself took on his mother's name, and that he has
nothing against girls considering that every woman was
once a girl (including the Mother Superior).

The door opens again, and the girl from the shed comes
in. She wears a blouse, cardigan, pleated skirt, and shoes,
and her hair has been washed and combed. Furlong asks
her if she is alright, and The Mother Superior tells her to
sit down for tea and cake. The girl awkwardly eats and
drinks. After making small talk, the Mother Superior asks
the girl how she came to be in the shed. The girl tells
them that "they hid me," and the Mother Superior states
that it was a game of hide and seek. The girl sobs but
affirms that "it was a big nothing" that left her in the
shed. The Mother tells the nun who brought the girl in to
make sure she is fed well and that she spends the day
resting.

Furlong feels without being told that the Mother Superior

wants him to leave, but he now feels a desire to confront
her. He idles and makes more small talk. She asks about
his business, commenting that he doesn't mind bringing
foreign sailors in. Furlong responds by saying that
everyone is born somewhere, and that Jesus was born in
Bethlehem (not Ireland). The Mother Superior states that
she would hardly consider comparing the sailors to "Our
Lord" before she takes out an envelope and hands it to
Furlong. Inside is a Christmas tip, which Furlong
reluctantly accepts.

On the way out, Furlong stops in the kitchen to check in

with the girl. The girl cries in response to his kindness.
Furlong asks what her real name is, since she'd been
given a boy's name at the convent, and finds that the girl
shares the name Sarah with his mother. But when Furlong
asks the girl how she ended up at the convent, the nun
signals her silence by coughing and shaking the pan.
Furlong tells the girl his name and that she can send to
him for help any time. When he leaves the convent, he
hears someone locking the door behind him.

Analysis

When Kathleen expresses disappointment at having to go

to the dentist instead of spending time with friends, this
shows that Eileen takes action based on the dream she
had in a previous chapter of Kathleen having a rotten
tooth. Kathleen indeed does end up getting a tooth
pulled, which confirms Furlong's comment in Chapter
Three about women's intuitions. Specifically, he
discussed how they can "predict what was to come long
before it came, dream it overnight, and read your mind."
This subtle detail affirms Eileen's intuition, and thus
emphasizes her practical insistence that Furlong not get
involved in the convent's affairs lest it bring trouble for
the family.

Place of origin plays an important role in this chapter.

When Furlong knocks on the door of a neighboring house
to request a hot kettle, he notices that the unfamiliar girl
who answers sounds like "she was from The West." This
indicates that she moved to find work. Furlong's
encounter with this woman prompts him to briefly
imagine living in that household with her as his wife. He
credits his straying imagination to "something in his
blood;" not knowing his own father opens these imagined
possibilities for not only his father's life, but for his as
well. The young woman working in this household is
clearly in a much better situation than the girl that Furlong
finds locked in the convent's coal shed. When he asks
this traumatized woman where she is from, the nuns
prevent her from saying more than "out beyond
Clonegal." Keegan leaves the reasons for both these
young women moving (or being moved) to New Ross
unexplained, instead allowing the reader to fill in the
blanks.

Reflections appear as a motif in this chapter. They give

the impression to Furlong of an out-of-body experience
and cause him to think about himself in relation to his
setting. For example, as he drives up to the convent to
deliver coal, the reflection of his headlights crosses the
windowpane, causing him to feel "as though he was
meeting himself there." Once he gets out of the car, he
spends time thinking about the reflection of the town
lights on the surface of the river. Furlong remarks that
looking at things from a distance makes them look "finer"
than seeing them up close. This relates directly to the
convent. From a distance, its beautiful and well-kept
outer appearance could influence the assumption that
the nuns treat the girls and women living there with the
same amount of care that is given to the hedges, trees,
and lawn. However, Furlong glimpses the ugliness inside
the place on his first delivery, and directly witnesses
abuse on his second. After being coaxed inside the
convent, Furlong sees his reflection in the immaculately
clean pots hanging in the kitchen. Again, things are not as
they seem. Keegan insinuates that the girls and women
living at the convent are forced to scrub everything until it
shines. The appearance of beauty and cleanliness is
predicated on forced suffering.

Keegan's writing is known for its brevity, efficiency, and

omission. What is left unsaid plays as much of a role as
the words of the narrative itself. Although Furlong
questions what is happening at the convent, he does not
outrightly state his suspicions. The narrator uses
language that casts the Mother Superior as an opponent
in a power play. In his internal monologue, we see his
desire to "hold his ground" and that "He had to hand it to
her; her head was cool." Later, when Furlong passes by
the kitchen to let the girl know she can reach out to him
any time, a nun signals via coughing and roughly shaking
the frying pan that the girl needs to shut up. Without
words, she forces the girl's silence. Keegan leaves the
characters' motivations up to the reader's imagination.
One can assume that the nuns control the girl by
rescinding her access to her son.

Keegan further illustrates the apparent abuse at the

convent when the Mother Superior says, "this poor girl
can't tell night from day sometimes." This is an example
of character projection in which the nuns physically and
psychologically torture the girls and then question their
sanity. According to the US Department of Health &
Human Services Office on Women's Health, experiencing
"abuse, whether physical, emotional, verbal, or sexual,
can have long-term effects on your mental health." More
broadly, any type of violence inflicted on a man, woman,
or child can have long-lasting impacts (Krug, et. al). Irish
society normalized the abusive treatment of unmarried
mothers based on religious and moral condemnation.
This means that the specific abuses that Furlong
witnesses in the novella have widespread religious and
communal roots.

Power relations based on gender play an important role in

this chapter. Despite the tight ship she runs at the
convent, the Mother Superior fears Furlong because of
his status as a man. General societal norms may support
the convent's abusive treatment of "fallen" girls and
women, but the Mother Superior senses that Furlong
could potentially threaten her establishment. Whereas he
initially feels reluctant to enter the convent, he eventually
decides to stay and "hold his ground" in confronting the
Mother Superior. Unfortunately, it seems that she has
extensive influence over his daughters' education when
she implicitly threatens to withhold from them a place at
the convent-run school.

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Small Things Like These Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Small Things Like These is a great resource to ask questions, find
answers, and discuss the novel.

Q: Where did Furlong go each week Q: What should symbols or images Q: Who has the power?
when he got married? should I include in my drawing A: Power primarily operates in Small
A: Furlong goes to the Good Shepherd about the book? Things Like These based on gender,
Convent to deliver supplies each A: • The Road (Symbol) socioeconomic status, and collective
week. After witnessing an upsetting indica- and individual identities. The novel
Asked by ivan V #1356716 tion of abuse at the convent, Furlong depicts how vulnerable young women
Answered by jill d #170087 24 days ago misses his turn on the drive home and and girls faced misogyny and ex-
4/18/2025 12:34 PM
ends up on a narrow road outside of ploitation. The Mother Superior...

VIEW ALL ANSWERS town. When he stops to ask an old Asked by paul i #1359746
man for directions, the man says, Answered by jill d #170087 2 months
ago 3/24/2025 3:23 PM
"This road...
Asked by vivien r #1357308 VIEW ALL ANSWERS
Answered by jill d #170087 a month ago
4/9/2025 6:44 PM

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