Small Things Like These – Chapter 4: Christmas Preparations and Haunting Recollections

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

As Christmas approaches, Furlong’s family attends the town’s annual tree-lighting ceremony in New Ross. Loretta is frightened by the costumed Santa and refuses to approach him, prompting Furlong to reflect on his own troubled childhood. Later, the family bakes a Christmas cake, and the girls write their letters to Santa. Furlong recalls a disappointing Christmas at Mrs Wilson’s house, where he received a hot water bottle and a copy of A Christmas Carol instead of the jigsaw puzzle he had asked for. When the children are in bed, Furlong and Eileen review the letters, plan presents, and share a moment of quiet companionship. Furlong grows introspective, questioning the purpose of his daily labour and the relentless cycle of work. The chapter ends with Eileen testing the cake at three in the morning.

Key Events

The town Christmas lights are switched on; the pipe band plays and carol singers perform.
Loretta is terrified of the Santa figure and clings to Furlong, who reassures her but feels a pang of worry.
Back home, the family makes a Christmas cake together, an evening of domestic cooperation.
While the girls write their letters, Furlong is drawn into a memory of his own childhood Christmas at Mrs Wilson’s: the gifts he received (a nailbrush, soap, a hot water bottle, A Christmas Carol) and his disappointment.
Furlong recalls asking after his father but lacking the courage to press Mrs Wilson; later, she suffers a stroke and loses speech.
The girls’ letters are placed on the mantel, then later burned in the Rayburn as a symbolic “post” to Santa.
Eileen and Furlong discuss the cost of presents and agree on gifts for each daughter.
Furlong shares his weariness with Eileen, who senses he was thinking about his past at Wilson’s.
Eileen relays local gossip: an undertaker’s marriage, a young man’s cancer, layoffs at the factory, and the sale of Wilson’s livestock.
At 3 a.m. the cake is tested with a knitting needle and deemed successful.

Character Development

Bill Furlong: His inner life deepens. He is both a caring father (soothing Loretta, helping with the cake, consulting on spellings) and a man haunted by childhood deprivation. The memory of the jigsaw and his father’s absence surfaces powerfully, and he begins to question whether his own endless work cycle is meaningful. He envies Eileen’s steady instincts and feels he may be poor company.
Eileen Furlong: Practical and efficient, she keeps the household running. She senses Furlong’s distraction and gently draws him out. Her remark about the girls’ “manners” shows pride in their upbringing, and her decision to burn the letters maintains tradition. She is the emotional anchor of the family.
Loretta: Her fear of Santa marks her as a sensitive child. Furlong’s protective response contrasts with the casual expectations of other parents.
The daughters (Joan, Kathleen, Sheila, Grace): Each displays a distinct personality—Joan singing in the choir, Kathleen wanting 501s, Sheila asking only for Scrabble, Grace with a long list, and Loretta requesting Enid Blyton books.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The burden of labour and the cycle of work: Furlong’s memory of the mushroom factory—cutting mushrooms only to see new ones push up—becomes a metaphor for his present life. He feels trapped in a repetitive grind that leaves little room for reflection.
Memory and the past: The chapter is saturated with Furlong’s recollections. The scent of lemon, the hot water bottle, and Dickens’s A Christmas Carol all trigger painful or bittersweet associations. His unresolved quest for his father’s identity lingers.
Christmas as a mixed experience: The holiday brings both joy (the lights, the cake, the children’s excitement) and anxiety (expense, Loretta’s fear, Furlong’s memories). The burning of the letters in the Rayburn is a small ritual that simultaneously dispatches wishes and consumes them.
Intuition and silence: Eileen’s “red-hot instincts” allow her to read Furlong’s mood. Their unspoken understanding carries the marriage, yet Furlong also feels a gap between them—he wonders if she imagines a different life.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is the emotional centre of the novella. It reveals the source of Furlong’s empathy for the marginalised—his own experience of childhood disappointment and invisibility. His memory of hiding in the cow-house to cry and washing his face in icy water to numb his pain foreshadows his later compassion for the woman in the convent laundry. The chapter also establishes the rhythms of Furlong’s domestic life, making his eventual break with social conformity all the more significant. The question “What was it all for?” resonates through the rest of the story.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Furlong lie to his daughters about receiving a jigsaw puzzle from Santa?
Furlong does not want to burden his children with the truth of his deprived Christmas. The lie shields them from the harshness he endured and maintains the illusion of a benevolent Santa. It also allows him to participate in the family’s festive mood without exposing his vulnerability.
How does the memory of the mushroom factory relate to Furlong’s present life?
The mushroom factory job symbolises a Sisyphean task: no matter how much work is done, new mushrooms immediately appear. Furlong sees his own work as a coal merchant in the same light—a cycle of labour that never ends and leads nowhere. This reinforces his mid-life crisis and his growing doubt about the purpose of his days.
What role does the burning of the letters play in the chapter?
The act of burning the letters in the Rayburn is both practical and symbolic. Practically, it is a traditional way of “sending” wishes to Santa. Symbolically, it shows Eileen’s matter-of-fact approach to parenting: the letters are consumed, just as the family will consume the gifts and the cake. It also marks a finality—once the letters are gone, the focus shifts to buying presents, moving the family forward through the season.