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Nancy Byrne
Jack is Eilis’s brother, who, along with their brothers Pat and Martin, has left Ireland to work in Birmingham. When Eilis also leaves home to travel to America, she takes a boat to Liverpool, where Jack meets her and spends the day with her before she boards the ocean liner that will bring her to New York. A sensitive young man, Jack tells Eilis that he was incredibly homesick when he first came to England, though he notes that this feeling eventually passed. Still, Eilis remembers this because she wonders what it will be like her when she goes to America, since—unlike Jack—she won’t have any family members in the area to whom she might turn for help. Later, in the aftermath of Rose’s death, Jack writes to Eilis and is honest with her about the fact that their mother is extremely sad—a letter that greatly factors into her decision to go home for a visit.
Jack Lacey Quotes in Brooklyn
The Brooklyn quotes below are all either spoken by Jack Lacey or refer to Jack Lacey. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part One
Quotes
She did not know if the other two also realized that this was the first time they had laughed at this table since Jack had followed the others to Birmingham. She would have loved to say something about him, but she knew that it would make her mother too sad. Even when a letter came from him it was passed around in silence. So she continued mocking Miss Kelly, stopping only when someone called for Rose to take her to play golf, leaving Eilis and her mother to clear the table and wash the dishes.
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Part Two
Quotes
None of them could help her. She had lost all of them. They would not find out about this; she would not put it into a letter. And because of this she understood that they would never know her now. Maybe, she thought, they had never known her, any of them, because if they had, then they would have had to realize what this would be like for her.
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Jack Lacey Quotes in Brooklyn
The Brooklyn quotes below are all either spoken by Jack Lacey or refer to Jack Lacey. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part One
Quotes
She did not know if the other two also realized that this was the first time they had laughed at this table since Jack had followed the others to Birmingham. She would have loved to say something about him, but she knew that it would make her mother too sad. Even when a letter came from him it was passed around in silence. So she continued mocking Miss Kelly, stopping only when someone called for Rose to take her to play golf, leaving Eilis and her mother to clear the table and wash the dishes.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part Two
Quotes
None of them could help her. She had lost all of them. They would not find out about this; she would not put it into a letter. And because of this she understood that they would never know her now. Maybe, she thought, they had never known her, any of them, because if they had, then they would have had to realize what this would be like for her.
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Page Number and Citation:
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