The Gathering

Veronica’s continued reflection on corporeality emphasizes the theme of The Impact of Death and Grief. In contemplating the many people who have died, likely alone, at St. Ita’s, Veronica feels that the corpses buried there “have me by the thighs. I am gripped at the thighs by whatever feeling this is […] It clutches at me, skitters between my clothes and my skin. It lifts every hair. It grazes my lip. And is gone” (161). The physicality of this passage highlights her relationship to death. It’s as if her state of grief has made her more sensitive to the dead buried at St. Ita’s, but she experiences this “feeling” as unwanted and unsettling. Veronica’s character development is defined by her process moving through grief. Her reflections on corporeality reflect her grappling with mortality, her brother’s death, and her sense of profound loss.

An external conflict in these chapters that escalates Veronica’s emotional conflicts is the time it takes for Liam’s body to be processed and prepared for burial. When Veronica sees the gravesite of St. Ita’s, she wonders “how many people were slung into the dirt of this field and realise, too late, that the place is boiling with corpses, the ground is knit out of their tangled bones” (160). St. Ita’s burial ground is a metaphor that represents the ways in which society denies responsibility, and the human cost of this denial. In ignoring the horrors that occurred at St. Ita’s by giving the dead a mass burial site without their own autonomous markers, society sends the message that honoring the body and soul of an individual is not as important as maintaining a certain order or institution’s reputation. This denial of responsibility is of deep concern to Veronica because she has already made a connection between Liam and their uncle who was hospitalized at St. Ita’s. The implication here is that Liam is also in danger of being forgotten and ignored for the sake of social niceties.

A major plot development occurs when Veronica reveals that Nugent sexually assaulted Liam. This trauma not only informs Liam’s self-destruction but also gives a young Veronica guilt that she struggles to deal with. Regarding Liam’s turning away from family, Veronica reflects

Now I know the look in Liam’s eye was the look of someone who knows they are alone. Because the world will never know what had happened to you, and what you carry around as a result of it. Even your sister—your saviour in a way, the girl who stands in the light of the hall—even she does not hold or remember the thing she saw (172).

The “light of the hall” in this quote symbolizes revelation: the revelation of what happened to Liam and the simultaneous revelation that no one helped Liam. As this passage illustrates, Liam’s tragic life and death is inextricably tied to a collective Hegarty drama. This is why Veronica tries to narrate her grandmother’s decision to marry her grandfather instead of the man she loved. Veronica tries to manage her own guilt in the situation by ascribing guilt to another family member’s decision made long ago.