47 pages • 1 hour read
Niall WilliamsTime of the Child
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.
Jack goes into town for breakfast at the hotel. Staring out the window, he reflects on last night’s events. When he brought the baby into his office, he discovered that she was indeed dead. After breathing into her mouth three times, the baby came back to life. Jack is grateful he revived the baby but worries about what to do now. It’s only a matter of time before the town discovers the truth, and he can’t keep the child hidden forever.
After breakfast, Jack goes to Mrs. Griffin’s pharmacy for a bottle. She doesn’t know Jack and congratulates him on the birth, giving him a bottle of the perfume that Annie used to wear for the baby’s mother. Back at home, he hides the perfume in his own things and helps Ronnie with the bottle. He spends the rest of the day seeing patients and trying not to worry about the baby.
Father Coffey appears at the house to give Jack his newspaper because he didn’t pick it up from the postman. Ronnie hides with the baby while Jack meets with Coffey, who informs him that Father Tom is unwell. They leave together so that Jack can check in on Tom. Jack and Tom meet in private. Jack informs him that he has dementia and explains how the condition will progress. Afraid, Tom begs Jack not to put him in a psychiatric hospital.
Ronnie stays with the baby alone all day. She worries that something is wrong when she notices that Jack hasn’t returned home. In the morning, they greet each other in the kitchen for breakfast. Jack abandons the eggs he’s cooking to hold the baby. Ronnie watches in awe as her father dances around the kitchen with the child. After handing her back, Jack considers reminding Ronnie that the baby isn’t theirs and that they can’t keep her, but he says nothing.
While Ronnie cares for the baby, Jack sees his patients. That evening, his mind returns to the child. He suddenly realizes that “Noel Crowe [is] the answer” to their problem (179). Convinced that he has a plan, Jack dismisses himself to visit the Crowes. He drives through the quiet village, trying to remember if Ronnie and Noel had a romance before Noel moved away. He pulls over at Fort Field and stands under the starry sky. For the first time in years, he starts to pray. He decides that Aine must die. If she does, Noel will return for her funeral. He’ll fall in love with the baby and agree to marry Ronnie, allowing her to keep the child.
At the Crowes, Jack is disappointed to see that Aine’s condition is unchanged. He sits by her bed and tells her about the baby and his plan to bring Ronnie and Noel together. Aine doesn’t speak but squeezes Jack’s hand.
On his way out, Jack chats with Mossie. He’s disappointed to hear that Mossie hasn’t heard from Noel and promises to visit again soon.
Jack then stops at the local travel agency to ask about the price of tickets to America. Two days later, he mails the fare to Noel for a trip home. In the days following, he starts imagining Noel’s return. He continues visiting Aine as promised, too. Her condition doesn’t change, but Mossie is convinced that she’s improving, much to Jack’s dismay.
Over the following weeks, the townspeople start asking Jack about Ronnie because they haven’t seen her in town. One day, Jack stays with the baby so that Ronnie can get out of the house and assuage the villagers’ concerns. Shortly thereafter, Jack sees a hearse in town and rushes to the Crowes. He’s disappointed to discover that Aine is still alive. Afterward, he spends some time with the baby alone and tells her about Annie.
Later that day, Ronnie and Jack discuss what to do. Jack doesn’t tell her about his plan, determined to secure Noel’s return first.
On Saturday, Jack takes a walk out to the holly bush. He’s overcome with emotion when he discovers the hacked branches. Back inside, Father Coffey arrives. Ronnie hides with the baby in the other room while Coffey talks to Jack about Father Tom’s condition. Convinced that he’s unfit for the ministry, Coffey implores Jack to sign a form initiating Tom’s hospitalization. Jack studies the document intently, hesitant to send Tom away. Suddenly, the baby starts crying. The men don’t say anything, and Jack ushers Coffey out, promising to review the paperwork again.
Over tea with Ronnie afterward, Jack silently realizes how desperate their situation is. Seemingly unconcerned, Ronnie announces that she wants to name the baby Noelle and have her baptized.
On Sunday, Jack visits Father Tom while Father Coffey is leading Mass. He confides in Tom about the baby—news that Tom has already heard. Afterward, he pays a few visits and drives out toward the sea. Looking out over the water, he begs Annie for help.
Father Coffey is at the house with Ronnie and Noelle when Jack returns home. Jack assures him that everything is under control with Noelle, as Ronnie’s fiancé Noel Crowe is returning soon to marry her. Ronnie barely reacts, leaving with the baby. Jack and Coffey share some brandy and continue discussing the matter. Coffey argues that the Troys can’t keep Noelle because she isn’t Ronnie’s or Noel’s child. Soothed by the brandy, Jack insists that he’s choosing to love the child and to take pity on Tom, which is what God would want. Coffey meditates on Jack’s speech.
The next day, Jack learns that Aine died. He visits the Crowes and expresses his condolences. Worried that Noel still hasn’t arrived, Jack calls him after leaving the Crowes. Noel insists that he can’t return to Faha and thanks Jack for supporting his grandparents.
Heartbroken, Jack returns home. As soon as he enters the house, Ronnie throws a dish and yells at him for arranging her marriage without consulting her. He explains his reasoning, but Ronnie insists that she “won’t be marrying anyone” (259).
Jack spends the rest of the day seeing patients. That evening, he visits Regina’s grave and asks for her help. On the drive home, he offers Jude a ride, and Jude asks after the baby. Back home, Jack goes straight to bed without seeing Ronnie or Noelle. After he’s asleep, Ronnie packs up her things and sneaks out of the house, having decided to move to England.
When Jack wakes up and finds Ronnie missing and her goodbye note on the table, he speeds through town hoping to stop her. He hits ice, skids, and crashes the car. Some hours later, Father Coffey finds Jack and takes him to another doctor. After he recovers, Jack returns home, thrilled to find that Ronnie and Noelle have come back. Just before Christmas, Jack goes out and buys Ronnie a special gift set.
On Sunday, Ronnie, Jack, and Noelle prepare to attend Mass. Jack sprays himself with the perfume, and Ronnie dons Charlotte’s dress. During Mass, the congregants pass the baby around the pews. Jack marvels at the scene, realizing how powerful Noelle’s birth has been. He muses on his and Ronnie’s plan, too. They will have Charlotte and Eugune formally adopt Noelle so that Ronnie can continue caring for her in Faha with Jack. As Mass ends, Jack tells himself that he’s experienced a miracle.
Chapter 4 Analysis
Jack and Ronnie’s growing attachment to Noel captures The Redemptive Power of Love. When the father and daughter first welcome the baby into their home, Noelle disrupts their predictable realities and creates conflict in their home and family life. Because Jack knows “that in Faha the lid never stay[s] on a story” (155), he begins to worry about how to solve the problem of Noelle. He regards her as a threat to his domestic and vocational spheres because he’s afraid that the story about her will spread through rumors as opposed to the truth. At the same time, Jack has recognized Ronnie’s immediate loving response to Noelle and fears breaking her heart by taking the baby from her. Jack is thus caught between duty and loyalty—his community’s perceived expectations of him and his fear of hurting his daughter. Indeed, Jack loves his community because he’s devoted to their care as their doctor; he doesn’t want to compromise these relationships by siding with Ronnie and Noelle. Therefore, his secret plan to marry Ronnie to Noel Crowe is a manifestation of his desire to abide by the Faha Catholic traditions, his love for his daughter, and his growing attachment to the baby. He pursues this private mission with “the singular focus of a father who would knock down the world to make the path for his child” (180). Jack’s ongoing efforts to bring Noel home illustrate the lengths he will go to ensure the strength of his family ties and make Ronnie happy. Indeed, for the first time since Regina’s and Annie’s deaths, Jack takes action. His seemingly rash decisions are evidence of how, when grappling with The Interplay Between Statis and Change, Jack has chosen the latter. In this way, Noelle’s appearance on his doorstep has reawakened him to his home and family life.
The baby similarly complicates Ronnie’s sense of identity and security. Throughout the novel, the narrator has repeatedly remarked on Ronnie’s attachment to Faha. She lives a solitary life that is largely dictated by her domestic responsibilities, her work at Avalon House, and her duty to her father. However, she garners meaning and purpose from these pastimes. When Noelle surfaces on her family’s doorstep, Ronnie is no longer certain what the future holds for her. Her new regard for her life at Avalon House and in Faha is in part inspired by Jack’s attempt to determine her fate without consulting her. Certain “that for her there [will] be no marriage” (264), she decides to leave Faha for England to preserve her new attachment to the child and to protect Noelle’s life. Indeed, before Noelle, Ronnie had never experienced a love that felt tactile and all-consuming. The baby thus opens Ronnie’s heart and makes her fiercely protective of her and Noelle’s future as a family. Ronnie’s attachment to Noelle underscores The Strength of Familial Bonds in a new context. Ronnie has not given birth to Noelle but is prepared to make maternal sacrifices on her behalf. She tries to leave Faha because she is willing to face the associated loss and grief to be with Noelle.
The scenes of the characters interacting with Noelle further convey the baby’s redemptive, transformative powers. For example, when Jack dances with the baby while making breakfast, the narrator depicts Jack in a state of rare abandon:
What had come over him was old as life on earth, a pulsed response to another, outside of and even before the existence of reason, a prime and primal engagement that took its continuance from the expression in the baby’s features. She liked it! And that was everything. And if it took away the persona through which he met the world, if it rendered him in the general soft-mouthed and eye-watery category of doting grandfathers, what of it? (175).
The use of diction like “pulsed,” “primal,” “continuance,” “soft,” “watery,” and “doting” emphasizes the emotionality of the scene. Jack is connecting with the baby and making her happy; at the same time, he is enjoying himself and engaging with the present moment. His waltzing movements create a lighthearted mood and a pleasant narrative atmosphere—dynamics that capture how the baby is transforming Jack’s typically removed and controlled demeanor.
The closing scene at the church similarly conveys Noelle’s redemptive effect on the broader Faha community. Throughout the service, the villagers pass Noelle from person to person. The image of her going from pew to pew captures the infectious nature of the love and hope that she offers the churchgoers. Indeed, because Jack and Ronnie have decided to welcome the baby into their lives without shame, they in turn inspire the Faha townspeople to do the same. Furthermore, the baby’s presence at the Christmas Mass is a narrative allusion to the Biblical story of Jesus’ birth. Noelle—a name meaning “Christmas” in Latin—mirrors Jesus’s archetypal significance in the Christian tradition. Her arrival in Faha brings newness and hope while reminding the villagers to love and accept one another.
