So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, gender discrimination, emotional abuse, and sexual violence and harassment.

All three of the collection’s short stories explore the quest for identity, autonomy, and fulfillment through a feminist lens. The main female characters of the short stories all make decisions in an attempt to claim their independence. In “So Late in the Day,” Sabine initially agrees to marry Cathal—a decision that shows her abiding by gender norms and societal expectations. However, she later “change[s] her mind” and tells Cathal that she has “no wish to marry him after all” (49). By reneging on her original promise, Sabine is exercising her agency and refusing to stay with a man who doesn’t support her or value her personhood. He’s indeed “spoiled and turn[s] contemptible when things don’t go [his] way” (34)—behavior which limits Sabine’s freedom. In “The Long and Painful Death,” the unnamed protagonist has similarly extricated herself from marital engagements in the past to pursue personal fulfillment on her terms. The Böll House fellowship symbolizes her search for self-discovery, in that she’s free to live and write on Achill Island in a way she hasn’t been in the past.