Plot Summary
Meghann “Meggie” Cleary, the only daughter of Padraic (“Paddy”), an Irish farm laborer, and Fiona (“Fee”), his wife, was born on December 8, 1915, in New Zealand.
Meggie is a gorgeous youngster with curling red-gold hair, but she receives little coddling and must strive to hold her own in the family, which at the time includes five older brothers.
Her favorite sibling is the eldest, Frank, a rebellious young man who is reluctantly training to be a blacksmith. He is significantly shorter than his brothers, yet he is extremely strong.
He has black hair and eyes, which he received from his Maori great-great-grandmother, unlike the other Clearys.
Paddy has a wealthy sister, Mary Carson, a widow who lives on Drogheda, a massive sheep station in New South Wales, Australia. When Paddy receives an offer from Mary to work on her estate, the entire Cleary family relocates from New Zealand to Australia in 1921.
The family meets Ralph de Bricassart, a young, capable, and ambitious priest, in Drogheda. He has been sent to a rural parish in the town of Gillanbone, near Drogheda, as punishment for disrespecting a bishop.
Ralph has made friends with Mary Carson, anticipating that a large donation from her to the Catholic Church could free him from exile.
Ralph is described as “a handsome man,” and Mary goes to considerable efforts to persuade him to violate his vows. Ralph dismisses her attentions and ploys and resumes his visits. He loves every one of the Clearys, but especially lonely little Meggie.
Frank has never had a good relationship with his father, Paddy. They compete for Fee’s attention. Frank resents the several pregnancies that Paddy has forced her to suffer.
Fee, now in her forties, discovers she is pregnant again; the two men argue angrily, and Paddy informs Frank that he is not his biological son.
Fee, the daughter of a well-known New Zealander, has been exposed to have had an affair with a married politician. Frank, the outcome, was already 18 months old when Fee married Paddy. Frank has always been Fee’s favorite child since he resembled her lost love.
Frank flees after a dispute with Paddy to become a prizefighter. Fee has twin boys, James and Patrick (Jims and Patsy), but is uninterested in them. Hal, Meggie’s beloved younger brother, dies soon after.
Meggie clings to Ralph de Bricassart, her steady tutor and companion, now that Frank is gone and Hal is dead. As she matures into a woman, several, including Ralph and Meggie, begin to question their tight bond.
Mary Carson, motivated by jealousy and Machiavellian nastiness, devises a scheme to separate Ralph and Meggie by luring him with a position in the church hierarchy.
Although her first will gives the most of her fortune to Paddy, she quietly creates a new one that names the Roman Catholic Church as the primary beneficiary and Ralph as the executor.
The actual extent of Mary’s fortune is ultimately disclosed in the new will. Drogheda, contrary to what Ralph and Paddy have long maintained, is only a hobby, a diversion from her genuine financial concerns.
Mary’s fortune stems from a massive global financial business worth more than 13 million pounds (about A$200 million in contemporary times).
The amount of Mary’s legacy ensures Ralph’s swift ascension in the church. She also ensures that after her death, only Ralph is aware of the new will, forcing him to choose between Meggie and his own ambition.
She also provides for her estranged brother, offering him and all his grandchildren a home on Drogheda for as long as any of them survives.
Ralph goes to great lengths to avoid Meggie, now 17 and dressed in a beautiful rose-pink evening gown, at Mary’s 75th birthday party. Later, he tells Meggie that others may not regard his attention as innocent. Later that night, Mary dies, and Ralph learns about the new will.
He recognizes the subtle genius of Mary’s plan right away, and despite his tears and calls her “a disgusting old spider,” he rushes the new will to her lawyer. The lawyer, disgusted, begs Ralph to destroy the will, but this is futile.
The 13 million pound bequest works its expected magic, and Ralph soon departs for Sydney to begin his rapid advancement in the church.
Meggie confesses her love for him before he leaves, and they share a passionate kiss, but Ralph pulls away due to his duty as a priest and begs Meggie to find a suitable companion.
Frank has been convicted of murder after killing someone in a scuffle, according to the Clearys. Frank is imprisoned for three decades.
Paddy is murdered in a lightning strike, and his son Stu is killed by a wild boar immediately after discovering his father’s body. Meanwhile, Ralph is on his way back to Drogheda after learning of Paddy and Stu’s deaths. When his plane bogs in the mud, he sustains minor injuries.
Their passion is revived while Meggie repairs to his wounds, but Ralph rejects Meggie once more, and he only stays in Drogheda long enough to conduct the funerals.
Three years later, Meggie is courted by a sheep shearer named Luke O’Neill. Although his intentions are more mercenary than love, she marries him because he resembles Ralph, and also because Luke is not Catholic and she has nothing to do with religion – her own method of retaliating against Ralph.
She quickly realizes her error. Following a brief honeymoon, Luke, a skinflint who views women as sex objects and prefers the company of males, finds Meggie a live-in job with a loving couple, the Muellers, and departs for North Queensland to join a band of itinerant sugarcane cutters.
Before leaving, he takes all of Meggie’s savings and arranges for her wages to be paid straight to him. He tells her he’s saving up for a homestead, but he rapidly becomes enthralled with the competitive toil of cutting cane and has no intention of leaving it up.
Meggie purposefully thwarts Luke’s normal contraception and bears Luke a red-haired daughter, Justine, in the hopes of changing Luke’s ambition and settling him down. Luke, on the other hand, is unimpressed by the new infant.
During Meggie’s arduous labor, Father Ralph pays her a visit. He’s come to say good-by before departing Australia for Rome. He notices Meggie’s unhappiness and feels sorry for her. Justine is a difficult baby, so the Muellers send Meggie to a remote island resort to rest.
Father Ralph returns to Australia, learns of Meggie’s location via Anne Mueller, and spends several days with her. The lovers finally consummate their love there, and Ralph realizes that, despite his goal to be the perfect priest, his desire for Meggie makes him a man like other men.
He returns to church, and Meggie, who is now pregnant with Ralph’s child, decides to divorce Luke.
She sleeps with Luke one last time to ensure that her child’s paternity is not called into doubt, then tells Luke what she truly thinks of him and departs for Drogheda, leaving him to his cane-cutting.
Back at home, she gives birth to a handsome baby named Dane. Fee, who has dealt with similar situations before, notes Dane’s likeness to Ralph as soon as he is born. The bond between Meggie and Fee improves.
Justine matures into an independent, sharply bright young woman who adores her brother but has little need for anyone else and calmly rejects Meggie’s motherly tenderness. Meggie’s other surviving brothers never marry, and Drogheda soon becomes overrun with the elderly.
Ralph returns to Drogheda after a lengthy absence, and for the first-time encounters Dane; although he is curiously connected to the youngster, he fails to understand that they are father and son.
Thanks to Ralph’s intervention, the long-incarcerated Frank is also released at this time and returns to Drogheda a broken man.
Dane matures and, much to Meggie’s chagrin, decides to become a priest. Fee tells Meggie that she must now repay what she stole from God. Meanwhile, Justine decides to pursue a career as an actress and departs Australia for England.
Ralph, now a cardinal, mentors Dane, but he is still unaware that the young man is his own son. Dane is likewise unaware of their true connection. Ralph looks after him well, and others mistake them for uncle and nephew due of their likeness. Ralph and Dane spread the rumor.
Justine and her brother stay close, despite his surprise at her sexual exploits and free-spirited lifestyle. Rainer Hartheim, a German politician who is a close friend of both Dane and Ralph, falls profoundly in love with her.
As tragedy hits, their relationship becomes the most important thing in her life and is on the edge of becoming something more.
Dane, a newly ordained priest, is on holiday in Greece. He went swimming one day while there and drowns while attempting to save two women from a severe river. Before Dane’s funeral, Meggie discloses that Dane is Ralph’s son. After the funeral, Ralph dies in Meggie’s arms.
Justine cuts off all contact with Rainer and sinks into a bleak, routine existence. They eventually resume their relationship on strictly platonic terms, until Rainer pays a solo visit to Drogheda to persuade Meggie to assist him in his pursuit of Justine’s hand in marriage.
Justine, the sole surviving grandchild of Fee and Paddy Cleary, finally admits to Rainer her true feelings, and they marry.
“The Thorn Birds” Themes
Colleen McCullough’s novel “The Thorn Birds” was released in 1977. The novel covers the narrative of the Cleary family, with special emphasis on Meggie Cleary, who falls in love with a priest named Ralph de Bricassart. Among the subjects addressed in the work are:
Love and Sacrifice: The story delves into the nature of love and sacrifice, as the characters make difficult decisions in the pursuit of love, even when it contradicts their sense of duty and devotion.
Forbidden Love: Meggie and Ralph’s relationship are hindered by the fact that he is a priest and so bound by celibacy vows. The work delves on the conflict between desire and duty, as well as the consequences of pursuing forbidden love.
Power and control are also themes explored in the story, as characters seek to assert their influence over others, often with tragic repercussions.
Family and Tradition: As the characters navigate their relationships with each other and with their cultural and societal standards, the story dives into the complicated aspects of family and tradition.
Religion and spirituality play an important role in the work, as the protagonists wrestle with their faith, beliefs, and the paradoxes and hypocrisies of religious institutions.
Colonialism and Identity: Set in Australia in the early twentieth century, the story tackles issues of colonialism and identification as the protagonist’s struggle to find their place in a quickly changing world.
“The Thorn Bird’s” Characters
Following are some of the main characters in Colleen McCullough’s “Thorn Birds”:
Meghann “Meggie” Cleary – The novel’s protagonist. Meggie is a little girl who grows up on an Australian sheep station and falls in love with a priest named Ralph de Bricassart.
Meggie’s confessor and spiritual advisor is Father Ralph de Bricassart, a Catholic priest. Ralph is educated and successful, but he is torn between his feelings for Meggie and his pledge of chastity.
Meggie’s mother, Fiona “Fee” Cleary, is strong-willed and fiercely protective of her family. Fee has a rough past, and her secrets play a significant role in the story.
Paddy Cleary – Meggie’s father, who is loving yet often irresponsible. Paddy is a hard-drinking Irishman who is struggling to support his family.
Mary Carson – A wealthy and powerful landowner who develops feelings for Ralph. Mary’s preoccupation with Ralph has far-reaching ramifications for the novel’s other characters.
Dane Cleary – Meggie’s headstrong and independent younger brother. Dane battles feelings of alienation from his family as well as a yearning for independence.
Meggie’s best friend, Justine O’Neill, is attractive and carefree. Justine rises to fame as an actress, but her success is tainted by personal sorrow.
Meggie’s older brother, Frank Cleary, is responsible and hardworking. Frank becomes a wealthy businessman after taking over the operation of the family’s sheep property.
Rainer Hartheim – Rainer Hartheim is a Nazi officer who marries Meggie. Rainer is nasty and abusive, and his marriage to Meggie is disastrous.
These are just a few of the many characters who inhabit “The Thorn Birds'” intricately detailed world.