48 pages • 1 hour read
Donal RyanThe Queen of Dirt Island
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Saoirse Aylward
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses self-harm, suicide, and racist, sexist, and anti-gay language.
Saoirse Aylward is the protagonist of The Queen of Dirt Island. Though this is a multi-vocal novel—different chapters are from the perspective of different characters, including Eileen and Pearl—Saoirse’s is the arc the novel tracks most fully. The first chapter of The Queen of Dirt Island, for instance, concerns the moments directly after Saoirse’s birth, in which her father was killed driving her home from the hospital. Saoirse is characterized as intelligent, introspective, and shy. Saoirse often feels isolated from the other people in her small Irish town because of the circumstances of her birth (her mother had gotten pregnant before she and Saoirse’s father were married) as well as her own teenage pregnancy, partway through the novel.
As the novel progresses, Saoirse changes from a passive and insecure teenage girl to a confident and competent woman. Though initially she doesn’t want to be a mother, Saoirse takes pleasure in mothering her daughter, Pearl. Saoirse’s personality is influenced by her mother, Eileen, and her grandmother, Nana. Her worldview is shaped by growing up in a household of exclusively women. Her childhood is frequently portrayed as difficult for its social isolation but idyllic due to the love that her mother and grandmother provide; for instance, when she is 14, Saoirse is forced to speak with a social worker whom she doesn’t like, and “she [is] afraid. Saoirse Aylward [is] fourteen years and nine months into her life before she [feels] fear” (46).
Saoirse displays high levels of empathy; for instance, even after she breaks up with her first serious boyfriend, Josh, she maintains a connection to him and his former partner, Honey, trusting them to take care of Pearl during her trip to the United States.
Eileen Aylward
Eileen Aylward is Saoirse’s mother. She is characterized as stubborn, independent, and headstrong, especially for the religiously Catholic environment in which she was raised. Eileen became pregnant with Saoirse when she was only a teenager and was married to Saoirse’s father just a few months before Saoirse’s birth. She is often portrayed as a foil to Nana, pushing back with anger against Nana’s bigoted beliefs. She is fiercely protective of both her daughter, Saoirse, and her granddaughter, Pearl.
Eileen is widowed in the first chapter of The Queen of Dirt Island, and this event is foundational for the development of her character through the rest of the novel. Eileen is portrayed as having to balance her external responsibilities toward her family—in terms of fixing up the house, making money, and dealing with her extended family—with her immediate family’s need for attention and care.
Eileen has a contentious relationship with her brother Richard. Early on, Richard is shown as supporting their parents, who have refused to have a continued relationship with Eileen due to her teenage pregnancy. When Saoirse first visits Dirt Island, where Eileen was raised, Richard tells her, “Your mother broke my parents’ hearts. She’s a whore. Do you know what that is?” (52). This abuse culminates in Richard attacking Eileen over a disagreement over real estate. However, Eileen demonstrates her compassion by later forgiving Richard and selling the land to him that he had originally desired.
Nana
Nana is Saoirse’s grandmother and Eileen’s mother-in-law. Nana’s son, Saoirse’s father, died in a car accident at the beginning of the novel. Nana is portrayed as old-fashioned, headstrong, and compassionate, with some bigoted tendencies. She and Eileen have a particularly close relationship; after Saoirse’s father’s death, Nana becomes a frequent visitor to Eileen and Saoirse’s house and eventually moves in with the two of them. However, Eileen and Nana also fight frequently, often regarding Nana’s bigoted comments. For instance, when Nana begins to gossip about a lesbian couple she spotted in town, Eileen responds by saying, “They’re fine women and what they do together is their private business” (28). After Nana disagrees, Eileen tells her to shut up. However, they make up soon after.
Nana’s health problems form a significant portion of the novel’s narrative. Nana suffers a series of strokes and declines slowly, eventually becoming partially paralyzed. Nana’s perspective on the world is colored by the frequent tragedy she’s experienced, losing, over the course of the novel, two of her sons and a daughter-in-law. As a result, she is highly protective of Eileen, Saoirse, and Pearl and acts as the matriarch of the family, frequently helping to resolve disputes and give advice. Nana passes in the years before the final chapter, which is set some time after the primary events of the novel.
Pearl Aylward
Pearl Aylward is Saoirse’s daughter, Eileen’s granddaughter, and Nana’s great-granddaughter. She is born after the 17-year-old Saoirse is impregnated following an assault by a singer in a local band. Pearl is the second-generation woman born out of wedlock in the Aylward family. Much of the novel’s tension concerns the community’s perceptions of the Aylward family following Pearl’s birth, which is not considered socially acceptable. Pearl is characterized as compassionate and intelligent and is doted on by a variety of people from the neighborhood throughout her childhood, including her mother’s boyfriend, Josh, and her aunt Doreen.
Though initially Saoirse and Eileen do not want Pearl due to the circumstances of her conception, they eventually center their lives around her. Eileen even sells her inherited property to fund Pearl’s education, marking a difference between Pearl and Saoirse, who did not get to complete her education. Throughout Pearl’s childhood, the circumstances of her birth are hidden from her; Saoirse eventually tells Pearl who her father was when she is 13 years old. Throughout the novel, Pearl’s character arc draws her toward increasing independence, with the final chapter showing her leaving Ireland for a long trip to find herself, an opportunity denied to both her mother and grandmother. The Queen of Dirt Island allows Pearl’s perspective to have the final say on the events of the novel. When she finally leaves to visit Honey and Josh in New York, “Pearl Aylward [feels] her world at once contracting and expanding, and she [feels] her heartbeat steady in her chest, as they [move], those women, through the green country, into the blue horizon” (242). Pearl’s independence demonstrates the maturity she’s gained through the love of the women who raised her.
