Previous
Bartley
Cathleen is Maurya’s older daughter, about twenty years old. She has stepped up as the most capable woman in the household, since Maurya’s age and sorrow have broken much of her mother’s spirit. With most of her brothers gone, Cathleen is prepared to take on more responsibility at home, but she still firmly believes in traditional gender roles, such as Bartley’s duty as a young man to go on the sea.
Cathleen Quotes in Riders to the Sea
The Riders to the Sea quotes below are all either spoken by Cathleen or refer to Cathleen. 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:
).
Act 1 Quotes
It’s the life of a young man to be going on the sea, and who would listen to an old woman with one thing and she saying it over?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Here, Cathleen chastises Maurya for voicing her anxiety over the possibility of Bartley dying on the sea as he prepares for his voyage. Cathleen not only believes that it is unlucky for Maurya to be insinuating that Bartley will die, but she also approves of Bartley’s voyage, since she sees it as performing his duty as a young man by going on the sea to earn a living for his family. In this way, Cathleen conforms with the traditional gender norms of the islanders’ culture. However, this passage also confirms the breakdown of traditional norms in regards to age. Instead Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti solu
Get the entire Riders to the Sea LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Cathleen Character Timeline in Riders to the Sea
The timeline below shows where the character Cathleen appears in Riders to the Sea. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
...Ireland, opens on a kitchen inside a cottage filled with nets, oil-skins, and cooking tools. Cathleen, a girl around twenty years old, is kneading dough and spinning thread when Nora, her...
(full context)
After Cathleen tells her that Maurya is lying down, Nora presents a bundle that the young priest...
(full context)
Hearing Maurya stirring in the other room, Cathleen hides the bundle in the turf-loft and throws turf down to feed the oven, in...
(full context)
A sad, quiet Bartley enters and quickly asks for the rope, which Cathleen had hung up to prevent the pig from eating it. Maurya attempts to keep Bartley...
(full context)
As Bartley uses the rope to make a halter for his horse, he instructs Cathleen on taking care of certain chores once he is gone, though Maurya is skeptical that...
(full context)
Maurya despairingly cries out that she will have no son left her by nightfall, and Cathleen rebukes her for not giving Bartley a blessing and “sending him out with an unlucky...
(full context)
With Maurya gone after Bartley, Cathleen and Nora have their chance to look through the bundle. Cutting through the knots, they...
(full context)
Cathleen hears Maurya coming back up the path, and decides that they will not tell her...
(full context)
...then saw Michael in fine clothes and shoes riding behind Bartley on a gray pony. Cathleen immediately begins to keen, believing that this is an omen of death for Bartley, and...
(full context)
...ways in which her sons, husband, and father-in-law have died on the sea, Nora and Cathleen hear someone crying out on the seashore. Old women begin to come into the house...
(full context)
...on a plank with a bit of sail covering it. One of the women tells Cathleen that Bartley’s horse knocked him into the sea.
(full context)
...the sea has taken her last son and she now will have “a great rest.” Cathleen reflects on how “old” and “broken” Maurya has become, and Maurya prays for the souls...
(full context)
