Short Fiction · Chapter
VII: Una’s Love explained
Una's sister Alice witnesses Una's increasingly strange behavior, culminating in a night of terror where Una appears to be under a supernatural influence.
What happens
Una's sister Alice witnesses Una's increasingly strange behavior, culminating in a night of terror where Una appears to be under a supernatural influence. Una disappears, leaving behind only a purse embroidered with 'Una's love' and chalked words 'Ultor De Lacy, Ultor O’Donnell'. De Lacy's attempts to save her through exorcism fail, and Una is later seen as a ghostly apparition singing sad ballads in the glen.
Themes in this chapter
Supernatural and the Uncanny
Una's possession, ghostly apparitions, and the mysterious chalked names embody the supernatural forces at work.
Love and Sacrifice
Una's parting gift of 'Una's love' and her sister's desperate attempts to save her highlight themes of familial love and sacrifice.
Folklore and Local Tradition
The chapter draws on Irish folklore, including the ballad and the legend of the ghostly singing in the glen.
Characters to notice
- Una
Una is the central figure of the chapter, displaying supernatural possession or enchantment. She disappears after a night of eerie behavior, leaving only a token and chalked names.
- Ally Moran
Alice is Una's sister, who witnesses Una's strange actions and is left terrified after Una's disappearance.
- Ultor de Lacy
De Lacy is Una's father, who reacts with rage and horror at her disappearance and attempts to recover her through exorcism.
Key passages
“On the head of her empty bed were traced in chalk the words—Ultor De Lacy, Ultor O’Donnell.”
Chalked on the headboard of Una's empty bed were the names Ultor De Lacy and Ultor O’Donnell.
This marks the supernatural signature of Una's disappearance.
“And Alice found beneath her own pillow the little purse of embroidery she had seen in Una’s hand. It was her little parting token, and bore the simple legend—“Una’s love!””
Alice discovered the embroidered purse Una had been holding under her own pillow, a farewell gift inscribed with 'Una's love'.
This token symbolizes Una's lingering affection before her supernatural departure.
“Sometimes, too, in the glen, by moonlight, it was said belated villagers had met her, always startled first, and then smiling, generally singing snatches of old Irish ballads, that seemed to bear a sort of dim resemblance to her melancholy fate.”
Villagers claimed to encounter Una's ghost in the glen at night, where she would smile and sing fragments of Irish ballads reflecting her tragic story.
This describes the haunting legacy of Una's disappearance.