The Thorn Birds

Throughout the novel, several characters are punished for wrongdoing. Sometimes, other characters mete out the punishment, and at other times, society is responsible for the consequence. No matter the responsible party, the outcome is the same and the punishment ultimately futile: No character learns the desired lesson from their punishments. 

Ralph is introduced at the start of the novel as a priest who is in Australia in the first place as a punishment for disrespect. In Australia, he is bored by the provincial life until the Clearys arrive. Ralph does not learn to be more respectful while posted in Australia; in fact, his disrespect of the Church intensifies as his avuncular affection for Meggie deepens into passion.

The Cleary children attend the local Catholic school in Wahine before the family moves to Australia. They receive repeated canings from Sister Agatha as apparent punishment for wrongdoing, but her true purpose is to humiliate them for being poor. The boys, for their part, refuse to be humiliated; they never shed tears when being punished, and they command Meggie to follow suit.

Frank Cleary, Fiona’s eldest son, is imprisoned for murder and spends decades in jail, just as his great-great-grandfather ended up in New Zealand, a penal colony, for the petty crimes he committed in his home country of England. Unlike his distant relative, who made the most of his transplanted life by establishing himself as a prominent figure in New Zealand, Frank learns nothing from his imprisonment except for a preference to be left alone.

The sacrament of confession, according to the terms of the Catholic Church, reinforces this theme; when someone goes to confession, the priest assigns them penance, or an act of repentance, which can be interpreted as a variation on punishment or consequence. When Ralph asks for forgiveness for his tryst with Meggie, his confessor encourages him to seek a lesser punishment, minimizing Ralph’s sin and normalizing Ralph’s defiance of God’s commandments.