Fr Flood congratulates Eilis on passing the exams and says that she is a different girl from the one he first met. How has Eilis’s life changed? How has she changed?

When we first meet Eilis, she is smart and likable, but she is also innocent and inexperienced in the ways of the world. America affords her an education, as well as a sense of sophistication, but she continues to struggle with her sense of identity. Over the course of the novel, Eilis builds relationships and finds a sense of home in America. She also becomes more sure of herself. The one thing we never learn, however, is if she ever arrives at the point where she is comfortable within herself.