The Great Irish Famine

The Great Irish Famine appears as a history of departure that deepens Stella’s grief at parting from Michael and his family. Remembered alongside a modern airport farewell, the famine-era image of families watching emigrants sail away links private separation to an older, collective experience of exile without suggesting that the circumstances are identical.

Historical Memory at the Cliffs of Moher

Stella and Gerry had visited the Cliffs of Moher, described as the highest cliffs in Ireland and overlooking the Atlantic. During the famine years, families came there to catch a last glimpse of sailing ships carrying loved ones toward what they hoped would be a better life. The cliffs thus hold a memory of migration in which the act of watching someone leave is bound to the possibility that the parting may last forever.

The Past and a Modern Farewell

At the airport, Michael and his family are travelling back to Canada by plane rather than sailing away from Ireland. Stella knows that phone calls can keep them in touch, but that reassurance does not ease her sense of loss: what she misses is the daily, physical work of loving and helping to raise her grandchild. The contrast between the famine-era ships and the family’s flight makes travel easier, not separation painless; the remembered history gives Stella’s farewell a wider echo while her longing remains intensely domestic and personal.