Eilis is an Irish girl who has lived her whole life in a small village in Ireland.  She gets a job offer working for Miss Kelly at her store, but only on Sundays, and for minimal pay.

One evening, while a priest by the name Father Flood is visiting,  he hears about Eilis’ job and pay and is shocked at how low it was. Father Flood offers Eilis a job in Brooklyn, which she is hesitant to accept as it would mean leaving her mother and sister. Eilis’ sister on the other hand got all the documents organized for Eilis.

As the departure date gets closer, Eilis gets more nervous, ex: “Now, she felt that she was being singled out for something for which she was not in any way prepared, and this, despite the fear it carried with it, gave her a feeling, or more a set of feelings, she thought she might experience in the days before her wedding” (pg. 29)

Eilis, while Rose, her sister, has her trying different jewellery, realizes that her going, meant that Rose would never be able to leave, ex: “Eilis’ going, which Rose had organized so precisely, would mean that Rose would not be able to marry. Rose, she realized, in making it easy for her to go, was giving up any real prospect of leaving this house herself and having her own family” (pg. 32)

Eilis feels guilty for taking away any possibility of Rose leaving, and for Rose being the only person there to take care of their mother. Eilis also feels guilty for leaving her mother, who already had her three boys leave for England, as her mother would feel the pain of losing yet another child to a different country, but this time much further away.