Imelda`s Silence by P. Pereira

In William Trevor´s novel, Fools of Fortune, Imelda, Willie and Marianne´s daughter, is portrayed as a special child. On the one hand, the girl can be seen as the flawed offspring of these two cousins. On the other hand, she can also embody the virtues of a saint who has a holy mind. Her immersion in past tragic events could have caused her mental condition and subsequent muteness. However, her very same handicaps seem to be responsible for her gift of performing miracles, according to the view of her local community and of her parents. In this light, Imelda´s silence can be considered as “positive, even redemptive and saintly.”
From an early age, Imelda had been exposed by her mother to a flow of stories related to Irish political and religious conflicts. These tales mingled wars, family tragedies, historical accounts, and Celtic mythodology. As a result, Imelda became so overwhelmed and obsessed with these past atrocities, that she eventually became deeply deranged. When she felt that she could no longer escape her reality, Imelda became silent for life. At this point, her family and the local community virtually canonized her as a saint, even those at her Catholic school who had used to despise her for being a Protestant.
From then on, Imelda was seen as holy child, who had the power to perform miracles. For instance, she would cure a woman of dementia and a man of cataracts. Her serene smile was considered as an indication of her joy and her silence as the healer of collective atrocities of the past—of Willie´s guilt for his own act of violence and abandonment of his family, and of her family´s past wounds. In this way, Imelda´s silence would mitigate other people´s suffering caused by public and private tragedies.
In short, Imelda can be seen as having sacrificed her life so as to heal deep wounds inflicted on Ireland and her family by political and religious confrontations. In this light, Imelda´s silence can be considered as positive, redemptive and saintly.