Kate expresses her overwhelming fear that her family's fragile stability is collapsing as she faces the potential loss of her teaching job and worries about her sisters' futures. Maggie attempts to provide silent comfort as Kate confronts the harsh reality of their changing lives in 1930s Ireland.
KATE: You work hard at your job. You try to keep the home together. You perform your duties as best you can – because you believe in responsibilities and obligations and good order. And then suddenly, suddenly you realize that hair cracks are appearing everywhere; that control is slipping away; that the whole thing is so fragile that it can’t be held together much longer. It’s all about to collapse, Maggie.
MAGGIE: Nothing’s about to collapse, Kate.
KATE: That young Sweeney boy from the back hills – the boy who was anointed – his trousers didn’t catch fire, as Rose said. They were doing some devilish thing with a goat – some sort of sacrifice for the Lughnasa Festival.
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