The Thorn Birds

Ralph shows the Cleary family around the property, and he mentions that the head stockman’s house, where they will live, is prone to flooding. The family learns their new duties. A vivid description of the Australian wildlife and hints of more flooding to come coincide with a description of the men’s work, which takes place outdoors. Their responsibilities are stimulating while the work of the women is tedious and repetitive: “Paddy and the boys loved it […] camping at night under a sky so vast and filled with stars it seemed they were a part of God” (96). The women, however, “had not the leisure or excuse to ride, nor did they have the stimulation of varying activities. It was just harder to do what women always did: cook, clean, wash, iron, care for babies” (98-99).

A flood begins. Ralph helps Frank to clear the paddocks and to bring the sheep to higher ground; Ralph is clearly superior to Frank in riding horseback through a storm. Although Frank resents Ralph’s skill and elegant appearance, he confides in Ralph, confessing that he hates Paddy and that he can’t wait to be away from him.

As the flood nears its end, Ralph reports to Mary’s house. He strips naked under her admiring gaze. After a mildly flirtatious interaction, he asks her if she wants him to make love to her. Mary observes his flaccid penis while inspecting his impressive physique. Ralph goes outside to bathe himself in the rain, still flaccid though the sensation of raindrops falling on his naked skin is pleasurable.

When the flood recedes, plans for Meggie and Stuart to attend the local boarding school become reality, thanks to their connections to Mary Carson and to Ralph. Ralph’s deepening obsession with Meggie is evidenced by his decision to set aside a room for her that is far away from the other boarders.

When Frank returns from his duties, he learns that his mother is pregnant again and threatens to kill Paddy. Fee assures him that the act of sex is not dirty, emphasizing that if he kills Paddy, he would kill her as well. She suggests that Frank find a wife of his own, while Frank reviles the fact that his sanctified mother has again been sullied by “a dirty old goat” (113). 

Frank and Paddy find themselves together at a local bar in Gillanbone, the town nearest to Drogheda. Though the atmosphere is festive as the annual Gillanbone Show and Picnic Races begin, Frank wants to confront Paddy. Instead, Frank meekly accepts money from him: “Frank stared at the crisp blue five-pound note in his hand, longing to tear it to shreds and fling them in Paddy’s face, but custom won again” (117). He leaves the bar with Ralph and Meggie, and they head to the showgrounds.

Frank watches Ralph casually flirt with a young and confident equestrian who seeks his attention. When Ralph dismisses her attempts to continue the conversation, Frank observes that “Father Ralph had wantonly set out to shatter her faith in herself, in that heady femininity she wielded like a weapon” (119). Though bewildered by the exchange, Frank accepts a challenge to square off against members of a traveling boxers’ troupe. Ralph tries to dissuade him while he makes sure that Meggie is unable to see the event, but Frank, “wild-eyed, almost spitting with passion” (123), advances in the tournament, imagining each opponent as Paddy and winning 20 pounds.

Meanwhile, Paddy, having agreed to escort his sister to the festivities, is not enjoying himself. Embarrassed by his clothes, Paddy notes that Mary’s aristocratic acquaintances remind him too much of his wife’s family.

Paddy finds Frank, Ralph, and Meggie. When he sees the bandages on Frank’s face, Paddy criticizes him for picking a fight. Frank corrects him, explaining that he had earned money with his fighting prowess. Paddy dismisses Frank’s opponents and teases him about his small body. For Frank, Paddy’s comment is “the most terrible insult a man could offer him” (127). He tells Paddy that he has been invited to join the boxing troupe, and he condemns Paddy for having fathered so many children. Enraged, Paddy blurts out that he is not Frank’s biological father: “You’re no better than the shitty old dog who fathered you, whoever he was!” (127).

Later, Paddy relates the story of Frank’s birth to Ralph. Paddy had been a farmhand at Fiona’s family’s estate, and he was hired to marry her and to pretend to be the father of her illegitimate child. Ralph advises Paddy not to tell Fiona that he had an argument with Frank; he suggests that Paddy simply let Fiona know that Frank has run away to join the boxing troupe. Ralph puts Meggie to bed, and he also asks her not to mention the argument to her mother. Meggie wonders if her mother is pregnant again, and she talks about growing a baby of her own to keep her from missing Frank too much. 

Meggie and Stuart are no longer able to attend the Catholic boarding school. Meggie is needed at home to tend to Hal because Fiona has delivered twin boys named James and Patrick. The family nicknames them Jims and Patsy. Meggie becomes a mother to Hal. Stuart is allowed to work from home, and he is able to ward off unwelcome visitors with his male presence. Fee ignores Hal and the twins; they live at the main house with Meggie and members of female staff who tend to them. A drought now afflicts the landscape.

When Ralph next visits Mary, she questions his attachment to Meggie and asks about his promotion to Cardinal. He insists that, as a priest, he is in fact not an actual man, and as such, he has no sexual feelings. The drought worsens, and Hal becomes sick. Fiona tries to tend to him, but she eventually gives up. Hal dies, despite the fact that Meggie has been by his side, praying for him. Paddy tries to comfort Meggie with confusing platitudes about peace and heaven; tonelessly, Fee explains: “Daddy means he’s dead” (147).

Meggie soon starts her menstrual cycle at the age of 14. Because Meggie is friendless and because none of the books in the family’s small library mention sex or sexuality, Meggie fears that she is bleeding from her anus and that she is dying. She naively wonders how she can possibly tell her parents that she has been stricken by “some disreputable, forbidden disease of the bottom” (159). Ralph explains to her that her menstrual cycle is natural, but he doesn’t correct her when she explains that babies begin inside a woman’s body when the woman wishes for them. 

Mary, still pining for Ralph, is planning her 72nd birthday party. Through her window, she sees Ralph interacting with Meggie while teaching her how to ride horseback. Paddy doesn’t approve of women learning to ride, especially Meggie, but he refuses to confront Ralph, as he is a priest. Meggie fantasizes about Ralph with the awareness that he is not accessible. She imagines “what it would be like to be held in his arms […] Further than that her dreams couldn’t go, as she had no idea what came next” (170). 

Mary’s mood is bitter as she writes a letter; she asks two farmhands to sign her document as witnesses. At the formal party that evening, Mary is jealous of the women who dance with Ralph. Meggie is upset because Ralph pays her scant attention. At three in the morning, Mary gives permission for her guests to keep enjoying themselves, and Ralph escorts her home. They sit in her drawing room, and Mary talks to Ralph about love. She gives him an envelope and makes him promise to open it only after he has seen her corpse, telling him that the envelope contains his future. Mary confesses her love for him and begs him to kiss her, but when she sees “the disgust in his face, the instinctive recoil” (184), she wishes to die. In retaliation, Mary mocks Ralph for his impotency as a man and as a priest.

Mary dies that night. In her letter to Ralph, she declares her love for him as well as her wish to punish him for eternity. She includes an updated will, which leaves her massive fortune to the Church and voids her original will, which leaves everything to the Cleary family; Ralph, with this updated will, could make his claim to it all, in the name of the church. The promotion he desires will likely happen, allowing to leave the dreary environs of the backwater posting, forcing him to leave Meggie. He now has a choice: to destroy the new will and let the previous will stand, or to present the updated will to the lawyer in charge of Mary’s estate. Thirteen million pounds are at stake: “Thirteen million pounds, and the chance to be Cardinal de Bricassart yet” (195).

Ralph presents the updated will to the lawyer, who questions the authenticity of the changes. The new will stands unless Paddy decides to challenge it, but Paddy is happy enough that the new will offers him and his family a steady income. Over the next days, Ralph imagines his future away from Gillanbone as a cardinal. Before he presides over Mary’s funeral, he discusses his future with Meggie. She talks of missing him, and as he says goodbye to her, he kisses Meggie passionately and leaves her without any explanation. A week later, Ralph leaves, and he soon becomes a private secretary to an Archbishop, spending his days counting and accounting for Mary’s vast fortune.