City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 5-2019 The Novelist and the Nun: Two Sisters, One Bond Kathleen J. Gaffney The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3113 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] THE NOVELIST AND THE NUN: TWO SISTERS, ONE BOND by KATHLEEN J. GAFFNEY A master’s thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, The City University of New York 2019 © 2019 KATHLEEN J. GAFFNEY All Rights Reserved ii The Novelist and the Nun: Two Sisters, One Bond by Kathleen J. Gaffney This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in satisfaction of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. Date Blanche Wiesen Cook Thesis Advisor Date Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis Executive Officer THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT The Novelist and the Nun: Two Sisters, One Bond by Kathleen J. Gaffney Advisor: Blanche Wiesen Cook Gabrielle Roy (1909 - 1983) was a French-Canadian author, journalist and teacher. She was also my third cousin, first cousin of my grandfather, Stephen McEachran. She wrote fiction and nonfiction in the latter part of the twentieth century and her work spotlighted Canada’s poor, immigrants, and marginalized women. Gabrielle Roy rose to fame as a keen-eyed witness and commentator in writings spanning over forty years. Her sister Bernadette (1897 – 1970) lived a more private, spiritual life as a nun, named Sister Léon-de-la-Croix, far away from the public spotlight. In this thesis I summarize the events that shaped both sisters’ lives and explore their life choices and the impact of those choices. I focus on the resonance of Gabrielle’s relationship with her sister as found in selected writings. Gabrielle and Bernadette shared a unique, filial bond--they both realized early on in their respective lives that as French-Canadian females they existed in a society with limited access to educational opportunities and career options. Therefore, if they wished to reach beyond expected traditional roles for women in that time and place, they would need to forge a different kind of life for themselves. Each pursued a different path to fulfill this goal: one becoming a world-renowned writer iv and public figure, having a profound impact on Canadian literature; the other becoming a nun, quietly fulfilling her ministry to God through teaching immigrant children. Both lived their respective roles with commitment and fervor, and each found a sense of purpose that rescued them from the confines of their family of origin and the patriarchal structures at that time in Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg, Canada. Although the two sisters were separated geographically from each other for most of their lives and shared a twelve-year age difference, they were always very close, and they strengthened their bond through a decades-long exchange of letters. The letters they shared offer a window into two women’s lives, one famous and the other obscure. These letters from Gabrielle to Bernadette brim with passionate thought and sentiment that find their fuller expression in Gabrielle’s writings. In Roy’s works and in the body of her letters we find the revelation of the lives the two sisters lived, a powerful testament to love, faith and inspiration. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For my husband, Michael Gaffney, and my family who have been so supportive of my return to scholarly pursuits. For Dr. Blanche Wiesen Cook whose counsel helped me to unpack my heart in this thesis. For the CUNY Master of Liberal Arts Program in helping me continue the studies I began so many years ago. Finally, for my mother, Kathleen McEachran, who started me on this journey with Gabrielle Roy as a young girl. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Public and Private Lives................................................................................................6 Chapter 3: Private Letters as Portraits ..........................................................................................16 Chapter 4: A Sister’s Voice ..........................................................................................................37 Closing: Satisfaction, Joy and Pride ..............................................................................................51 Works Cited ...................................................................................................................................62 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Abbreviated Genealogy Chart .......................................................................................53 Figure 2: Photo of Gabrielle and Bernadette Roy as Children .....................................................54 Figure 3: Photo of Gabrielle Roy’s Summer Cottage ...................................................................55 Figure 4: Photo of Bernadette and Clémence Roy at Summer Cottage ........................................56 Figure 5: Photo of Gabrielle and Bernadette Roy at Infirmary ....................................................57 Figure 6: Photo of Gabrielle Roy ..................................................................................................58 Figure 7: Letter from Gabrielle Roy to Kathleen Gaffney ...........................................................59 Figure 8: Photo with Stephen McEachran (Gabrielle’s cousin and my grandfather) as Child .....61 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This Master of Arts in Liberal Studies thesis represents tandem efforts of love and fear as well as a return to the well-spring of my youth. The life and works of the French-Canadian novelist Gabrielle Roy have beckoned me since I was a child when my mother told me about our famous relative. For my undergraduate honors thesis in 1977, I remembered my distant cousin and decided to study her novel, Street of Riches. My focus was on the character of Christine, who embodied for me the persona of Roy herself. I engaged in a close reading of the novel in French (when I was fluent) and made many research trips to the Canadian Consulate and the New York Public Library for context on Gabrielle Roy and her family. I presented my paper to a panel of professors and graduated with a double major in English and French. I do not know why I did not reach out directly at that time to the author and ask for the opportunity to meet her or make a connection. It did not occur to me until later when my husband and I were planning a trip to Québec City. I wrote to her requesting a visit, and she wrote me a very lovely letter explaining her profound regret that she was traveling and missed receiving my letter. She warmly offered to schedule another visit. However, my next trip could not be arranged before she became ill and passed away in 1983. It is a profound regret that we never got to meet one another. (The letter to me from Gabrielle Roy is appended to this paper as Figure 7.) Then life happened for me: marriage, a corporate career, and two sons. Thirty-five years later I entered the CUNY Graduate Center Master of Arts Liberal Studies (MALS) program. In part, I returned to school because I felt the need to bring undergraduate liberal studies back into my life. I wanted to revisit works and ideas as an adult, and to view through a new lens of maturity 1 and life experience the works and ideas that ignited my youthful passions. For my major, I chose the Biography, Autobiography and Memoir track because I felt it coincided with my academic and life interests. My studies reawakened my interest in my famous relative. While I value and respect the large body of literature my cousin wrote and the significant contributions she made, my main impetus in this study is to explore her private, intimate life and the relationship she nurtured with her elder sister. Therefore, the reason I devote this paper to Gabrielle Roy and her sister Bernadette Roy is my increasing understanding of the significance of family as a personal core value. My sibling relationships as the eldest child with two younger sisters and a brother are among the most important in my life, more valued as we all grow older. In caring for our elderly mother who suffers from dementia, I have grown closer to my sisters, and I have learned much from my mother as she fades about what really matters in life. In this paper, I will show that Gabrielle and Bernadette marked my footsteps on this journey. A more recent personal link to Gabrielle’s life, cancer, emerged for me just two years ago. In their letters, Gabrielle shared Bernadette’s final journey in suffering and death from renal cancer. I am a recent cancer survivor, and I understand the rigors and pain of cancer treatment. While I was luckier than Bernadette, I counted on and received strong support and love from my family. Gabrielle and Bernadette’s relationship deepened as Bernadette’s life ebbed. The sisters’ shared experience led Gabrielle to rediscover her Catholic faith and deepen her relationship to Bernadette, since faith was one of the core values in Bernadette’s life.