The Great Unexpected

Nula is Naomi’s guardian, though Naomi never shares Nula’s last name, perhaps because it would draw attention to the fact that they are not related. This fact becomes less and less important as the text’s events unfold. Though Nula and Joe raise Naomi, Naomi is much closer to Nula and spends more time with her since Joe is not at home during most of the day. Nula, thus, appears much more frequently in the text. She has a very particular sense of humor, which Naomi understands; when Nula puts on a “mean voice” and jokes with Naomi about cleaning every inch of the house before she’s allowed to leave it, Naomi explains that Nula “wasn’t mad. This was the way Nula talked” (22). Nula and Naomi have a fairly open and trusting relationship. For example, Naomi tells Nula about her confusion regarding Finn and Lizzie, even when Naomi is glad that no one else knows how she feels about Finn. Naomi also takes Nula’s advice on how to deal with her heartsickness. The only thing Naomi keeps from Nula is her fear that Nula and Joe could send her away or give her up to some long-lost blood relative who might come to claim her.

Once they reach Ireland, where Nula is from, Nula reveals how grateful she and Joe were when Naomi came into their lives, a revelation that is instrumental to Naomi’s growth. Nula feels somewhat sad that they might have “kept a little too much distance [from Naomi] sometimes” (182) because they feared that someone would come and take Naomi away. Nula, however, is quite loving, assuring Naomi that, though they are not blood relatives, they are a good pair. Learning how glad Nula and Joe felt when Naomi “dropped into [their] lives” (182) helps Naomi to reach the understanding she needs—that unexpected events can be wonderful or sad, and anything in between—to find peace and accept her Unexpected Good Fortune. Thus, Nula serves as Naomi’s guardian and guide.

Lizzie is Naomi’s best friend and foil, illuminating Naomi’s qualities more fully through contrast. Both girls are orphans, but Lizzie has no internalized guilt that makes her anxious or fearful, as Naomi does. While Lizzie dreams of being adopted by the Cupwrights, despite how strict they are, Naomi fears being removed from Nula and Joe’s care. While Naomi can be withholding, keeping secrets, and hiding her real feelings, Lizzie does “not seem to know how to lie” (89). When Lizzie feels overwhelmed by life, she goes to the moon in her imagination, something that relaxes her and helps her to keep her problems in perspective. This same practice only gives Naomi more anxiety, exacerbating her overwhelm.

Lizzie’s whimsical and optimistic view of the unexpected contrasts and highlights Naomi’s pessimism. For example, when the girls contemplate the sudden appearance of two strangers in town, Lizzie says, “Maybe next we will get a kangaroo hopping down the road” (45), and compares their experiences to a book called The Great Unexpected. Naomi, on the other hand, considers this same situation and declares that the book sounds like her own life, except for the word “great.” Lizzie’s apparent flakiness also draws attention to how much Naomi seems to overthink, another factor that promotes her anxiety and dread. Lizzie is, ultimately, a static character who serves as a foil for Naomi, underscoring Naomi’s fretfulness and the significant role it plays in her daily life and choices.

Sybil is Nula’s sister, and, thus, also grew up poor. She originally came to Rooks Orchard as a servant, and she was betrayed by Paddy McCoul when he stole her wages. However, she soon fell in love with Albert Kavanagh, the gentle son of Sybil’s cruel Master and Mistress, and they eloped without his parents’ permission. Sybil inherited the Kavanagh estate upon Albert’s death, and she seems to have transitioned from servant class to upper class without much trouble. She employs a companion, Miss Pilpenny, and a cook and gardener, as well as a solicitor, Mr. Dingle. Despite her humble origins, Sybil is commanding and authoritative but without arrogance. Her “revenge” on Paddy McCoul and her father-in-law is extremely important to her, especially as she grows sicker, though her revenge is generous rather than malicious, ironically kind to others instead of intending to do others harm. She also loves mystery, frequently enjoying murder mysteries with Miss Pilpenny and sending anonymous rooks to her sister in America.

Hers is rather like a Cinderella story, going from rags to riches: first, whipped by the Master and then loved by his son, her prince. She was a servant and became the mistress of the estate, free to dispose of it as she likes, and she chooses to bestow it on “two young women who might most benefit” because she has “developed special sympathies for young girls like [she and Nula] were: so full of promise but with so few opportunities” (205). In her will, she provides for her cook and gardener, her companion and solicitor, as well as the sister from whom she was estranged for so long, not to mention Lizzie and Naomi, whom she’s never even met. In this way, then, she goes from a Cinderella to a fairy godmother who bestows Unexpected Good Fortune on the deserving, appropriate given the Compatibility of Fantasy and Reality in the novel.

Finnbarr McCoul is the son of Paddy McCoul, the man who charmed both Nula and Sybil, driving a wedge between them in their youth. During his lifetime, Finn was adored by everyone who knew him, and Miss Pilpenny says that they “thought he had dropped down from heaven for us to adore and—later-quarrel over” (212). Finn died long before the beginning of the story, having fallen from a tree in Rooks Orchard the day after he dug gold from the fairy ring. At the start of the novel, he falls from a tree in Blackbird Tree, and this is how he meets Naomi. Naomi quickly develops feelings for him, and neither Naomi nor Lizzie realizes that he is a spirit only, though there are many clues.

Finn helps to provide another link between America and Ireland. Naomi grows heartsick over him, which threatens to damage her relationship with Lizzie, just as Nula and Sybil were both heartsick for Finn’s father, Paddy (who called himself Finn), which is what damaged their relationship with one another. It seems that even Miss Pilpenny and her sister, Lizzie’s mother, Margaret, argued over Finn. Realizing that Finn talks like Nula and his revelation that he comes from the same town as Nula helps Naomi begin to find the hidden threads connecting the people of Ravenswood, Blackbird Tree, and Rooks Orchard. When Naomi sees the sign for Rooks Orchard upon her arrival in Ireland, she realizes that this is the place Finn spoke of when he fell into Blackbird Tree. His character is static and unchanging, though the truth of his spirit’s existence illuminates the Compatibility of Fantasy and Reality.