Mother Superior character analysis in Small Things Like These
Overview
Mother Superior is the unnamed head of the Good Shepherd convent in New Ross. She is a tall, composed woman who projects institutional authority through polished appearance and controlled speech. In the novel, she functions as the primary representative of a system that exploits vulnerable women and girls under the guise of reform. Her role is to maintain the convent’s reputation, silence dissent, and perpetuate the gap between the ideals of the Irish state (evoked by the 1916 Proclamation epigraph) and the harsh reality of the Magdalene laundries.
Plot role
Mother Superior first appears in chapter 5 (early December) when Bill Furlong discovers a young woman locked in the convent’s coal shed. After Furlong brings the girl, Sarah Redmond, to the front door, Mother Superior opens it, smiles, and immediately reframes the incident as a harmless mistake:
“God love you, child. Come in and get yourself upstairs and into a hot bath.”
She then invites Furlong inside for tea, taking him to a well-appointed room with a fire, a white cloth on the table, and a picture of Pope John Paul II. Throughout the scene, she uses small-talk, flattery, and a fifty-pound Christmas envelope to neutralise Furlong’s unease. When Furlong asks Sarah her name and background, the nun at the stove coughs and shakes the pan—a silent signal that Mother Superior controls what can be said.
Her final act in the story is indirectly present when Furlong returns on Christmas Eve to retrieve Sarah. The Mother Superior is not present in that scene, but the gate is unlocked and the shed is empty except for Sarah, implying that the nuns either did not expect his return or chose not to prevent it. Her power, however, lingers in the town’s warnings and Mrs Kehoe’s caution that “the nuns have pervasive power.”
Motivations and traits
Mother Superior’s primary motivation is reputation management. She is not cruel in an overtly sadistic way; rather, she is coolly pragmatic. When she finds the girl in the coal shed, she immediately shifts to damage control: she asks no real questions, labels the event “just a mistake,” and orders the girl fed and sent to rest. The goal is to erase the incident and prevent any word of abuse from reaching the outside world.
Key traits shown through action:
| Trait | Evidence from the text |
|---|---|
| Manipulative hospitality | She insists Furlong come in for tea, uses a warm fire and cake to soften his resistance. |
| Control of information | She tells the young nun to “fry up something” for Sarah and “see that she’s left idle for today”—a euphemistic command that removes Sarah from Furlong’s sight. |
| Economic leverage | She hands Furlong an envelope of money, knowing it will both pay for coal and create a sense of obligation. |
| Patronising condescension | She calls Furlong “Billy” and comments on his lack of a son, implying male heirs matter more than daughters. |
| Dismissal of suffering | She reframes Sarah’s trauma as a “big nothing” and tells her she “had a fright, is all.” |
Chronological arc
Unlike Bill Furlong, Mother Superior undergoes no moral change. She is a static antagonist whose authority is tested but never broken within the novel’s frame. Her arc is one of incremental exposure: from the town’s rumours (chapter 3) to Furlong’s direct encounter (chapter 5) to his haunted memory of her dismissive stance (chapter 6). Her failure is indirect—Furlong’s decision to rescue Sarah proves that her usual tactics did not work on him.
Relationships
With Sarah Redmond
Mother Superior treats Sarah as an object to be managed. She does not ask about the baby Sarah mentioned (the fourteen-week-old taken from her). When Sarah says “they hid me, Mother” and then recants—“it was a big nothing”—the nun accepts the lie because it serves her. There is no empathy, only procedural kindness.
With the young nun
The unnamed young nun who answers the door and serves tea is clearly subordinate. Her hands tremble, she struggles to remove a tin lid, and she stays “like a statue” while Mother Superior speaks. This dynamic shows the convent’s hierarchy: the younger nuns are expected to enforce orders without question.
With Bill Furlong
Mother Superior treats Furlong as a tradesman who must be placated. She uses his first name, asks about his daughters, and notes that two of them take music lessons at the convent—a reminder of the institution’s benevolence toward respectable families. When he resists her dismissal, she drops the envelope. This transactional approach fails because Furlong, who was raised by a woman who took in his single mother, cannot ignore Sarah’s plight.
Key decisions and consequences
- Ordering Sarah locked in the shed. Though not explicitly shown, it is implied that the convent’s staff acted under Mother Superior’s authority. The consequence is that Sarah spends a night in coal and filth, and Furlong witnesses the cruelty firsthand.
- Dismissing the incident as hide-and-seek. This decision prevents an immediate investigation but plants a seed of doubt in Furlong’s mind. It also forces Sarah to publicly accept a lie, further isolating her.
- Giving Furlong a fifty-pound card. The money is meant as a Christmas bonus and a bribe. While Furlong’s wife Eileen is grateful, Furlong himself is troubled; he later throws the envelope into the scuttle. The consequence is that his guilt builds, culminating in his Christmas Eve rescue.
- Trying to control narrative with parish connections. By reminding Furlong of his daughters’ music lessons, she subtly threatens the family’s social standing. The consequence is that Furlong becomes more determined to act, seeing the hypocrisy in a system that profits from “training” girls while mistreating them.
Theme and symbol connections
Mother Superior is the living embodiment of the novel’s major themes:
- Silence and complicity: Her refusal to investigate Sarah’s treatment and her dismissal of it as “a big nothing” exemplifies how individuals and institutions avoid responsibility. The town’s silence about the convent is a form of collective complicity that she reinforces.
- Hypocrisy vs ideals: The epigraph’s promise to “cherish all the children of the nation equally” is starkly contradicted by her treatment of Sarah. Her well-appointed room, fine clothes, and feigned piety contrast with the locked shed and the starving, freezing girl inside.
- Class and economic hardship: Mother Superior uses money—the envelope, the paid music lessons—as a tool of control. She belongs to a class that can afford to bribe, while Furlong’s working-class vulnerability is exposed when his wife eagerly accepts the banknote.
- Moral courage: By standing firm against her manipulations, Furlong demonstrates the moral courage she lacks. She represents the force that tries to extinguish that courage with money and social pressure.
- Family and legacy: Her dig about Furlong having no son—“to carry on the name”—taps into his own illegitimacy and his absence of a father. It is a calculated slight that reveals her worldview: lineage and tradition matter more than individual worth.
Symbols: The fire she stokes (“freshly lighted fire”) contrasts with the cold shed. The picture of John Paul II links her authority to church hierarchy. The “Flight into Egypt” Christmas card—showing Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as refugees—is bitterly ironic: she gives it to the man who helps a young woman fleeing the convent, while her own institution does the opposite of offering refuge.
Five book-specific questions with direct answers
1. Why does Mother Superior call the incident in the coal shed “hide and seek”?
She tells Sarah, “Hide and seek, I dare say. And at your age. Did they not think to let you out when the game was over?” She deliberately infantilises the girl and frames the abuse as a childish prank to avoid acknowledging that Sarah was imprisoned. The phrase “a big nothing” is repeated to erase the violence.
2. How does Mother Superior use the gift of money to try to control Bill Furlong?
At the end of the tea, she “put her hand down deep, into a pocket, and drew out an envelope” saying “here’s something for Christmas.” The envelope contains a fifty-pound note and a card inscribed “For Eileen, Bill and Daughters.” By making the gift appear benevolent and directed at his whole family, she creates an obligation that Furlong feels guilty about accepting. Later, tormented, he recalls “how he had taken the money and left her there at the table.”
3. What does the young nun’s reaction to Furlong reveal about the convent’s internal culture?
When Furlong says “Ye must expect a visitor” (after a spoon drops), the young nun looks “alarmed.” She later stands “like a statue” while Mother Superior handles the situation. Her fear and silence indicate that obedience is absolute and that the nuns themselves are under surveillance. She dares not contradict her superior.
4. Why does Mother Superior comment on Furlong’s lack of a son?
While pouring tea, she says “But it must be disappointing, all the same… To have no boy to carry on the name.” Furlong responds by saying he took his mother’s name and suffered no harm. The remark is a veiled insult—a reminder that he is illegitimate and therefore of lower status. It also shows her investment in traditional patriarchy, which the convent itself undermines by taking young women’s children.
5. What does Mother Superior fail to notice about Sarah that later haunts Furlong?
After Furlong leaves, he remembers “the breast milk leaking under the little cardigan and staining her blouse.” Mother Superior either ignored or did not see this sign that Sarah had recently given birth and been separated from her infant. That failure to address the girl’s most urgent need—informing her about her baby—is the turning point that makes Furlong return on Christmas Eve.