Nora Character Analysis in Riders to the Sea

A young girl, Nora assists her sister Cathleen in household tasks. She helps take care of their mother Maurya, even as she copes with all the deaths happening around them. Nora seems to have more confidence in the Catholic priest than Cathleen or Maurya, though her confidence in the priest proves misplaced after Bartley’s death.

Nora Quotes in Riders to the Sea

The Riders to the Sea quotes below are all either spoken by Nora or refer to Nora. 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:

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Dover Publications edition of Riders to the Sea published in 1993.

“I won’t stop him,” says he, “but let you not be afraid. Herself does be saying prayers half through the night, and the Almighty God won’t leave her destitute,” says he, “with no son living.”

Related Characters: (speaker), , ,

Page Number and Citation: 62

Explanation and Analysis:

And isn’t it a pitiful thing when there is nothing left of a man who was a great rower and fisher, but a bit of an old shirt and a plain stocking?

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 66

Explanation and Analysis:

Nora Character Timeline in Riders to the Sea

The timeline below shows where the character Nora appears in Riders to the Sea. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...tools. Cathleen, a girl around twenty years old, is kneading dough and spinning thread when Nora, her younger sister, asks the whereabouts of their mother Maurya. (full context)

After Cathleen tells her that Maurya is lying down, Nora presents a bundle that the young priest has given her containing a shirt and stocking... (full context)

...on the sea in such weather and that the young priest will surely stop him. Nora tells her that the priest will not stop him and that Bartley is determined to... (full context)

With Maurya gone after Bartley, Cathleen and Nora have their chance to look through the bundle. Cutting through the knots, they take out... (full context)

...immediately begins to keen, believing that this is an omen of death for Bartley, and Nora clings to the young priest’s promise that God would not leave Maurya destitute. (full context)

...recounts the 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... (full context)