James Joyce Dubliners

On the surface, James Joyce's Dubliners is a collection of short stories and unrelated characters woven together only by the common element of the city of Dublin in the early 20th century. Upon closer examination, however, it is evident that each story and character is connected by the many common themes that appear in every story

The theme I am going to discuss in relation to my essay is that of gender in the stories “A Little Cloud” and “Counterparts” from Joyce’s Dubliners. In both stories both men struggle with their identities both wanting to change the people they have become and flee the paralysis they are experiencing.

The main characters of the stories "A Little Cloud" and "Counterparts" seemingly have nothing in common; Little Chandler is a quiet, artistic man who rarely drinks or strays from his usual routine, while Farrington is an impoverished alcoholic on the verge of complete disaster. Yet each man similarly experiences agonizing feelings of paralysis and a need to escape. However both characters are incapable of taking decisive action to improve their lives leading to strikingly similar epiphanies at the end of each story.

After a night of drinking and introspection, In “ A little cloud” and “counterparts” both Little Chandler and Farrington come home and take out their anger on their children, symbolically expressing their frustration with themselves and their tragic lives of boredom and missed opportunities.

"Little Chandler" earns his nickname not from his physical size, but because he "gave one the idea of being a little man." Joyce paints the picture of a shy, bookish man uneasy and timid in social situations: "His hands are white and small, his frame was fragile, and his manners were refined." Conversely, Farrington is "tall and of great bulk" with "a hanging face, dark and wine-coloured." Little Chandler has no interest in social life and prefers to spend his time reading poetry in his quaint home, while Farrington seems to be a raging alcoholic that obviously spends any free moment in a pub. While Little Chandler is too shy to even read his favourite poems to his own wife or to meet new people, Farrington expresses his anger at his boss causing him to be fired, and heads to the nearest bar to drink and brag about it to his friends. It's clear that on the surface, these two characters have little more in common than a job they hate and an unquenchable thirst for something more.

In both stories, the setting of the office represents the paralysis that Little Chandler and Farrington feel. Both men are stuck in monotonous jobs that offer them no satisfaction except the fleeting joy of the end of the workday. Yet while these settings are similar in many ways, they demonstrate the individual problems both men have. Little Chandler is obviously a good worker with a decent job that requires some degree of education and skill, while Farrington is behind in his work, disliked by his employers, and willing to sneak out of the office for a drink at any time. Obviously Little Chandler, an intelligent man with a good background, had the option of doing something fulfilling with his life, "but shyness had always held him back." Farrington, on the other hand, is obviously lucky to have his menial job, but can't even do adequate work because of his personal faults of alcoholism, laziness, and ignorance.

Just as the office represents paralysis in both stories, the bar room represents escape and opportunity. Both men leave work in excited anticipation of the night to follow; Little Chandler, who "drinks very little as a rule," is more excited about seeing his now famous and successful friend Gallagher than actually going to the bar, while Farrington, after pawning his pocket watch for drinking money, simply looks forward to "drinking with his friends amid the glare of gas and the clatter of glasses." Little Chandler finds escape personified in Gallagher, who has gone beyond Dublin to find happiness, and even entertains the idea of writing a poem and getting Gallagher to "get it into some London paper for him." Farrington simply aches "for the comfort of the public-house" and, unlike Little Chandler, goes out with the predetermined goal of escaping into drunkenness in a loud and boisterous party setting

It is in the bar where each man, hoping to find comfort and at least temporary escape, instead meets with disappointment and shame. Little Chandler is easily coerced into drinking by his charismatic friend, and through the course of their conversation begins to develop feelings of shame and hostility towards Gallagher. By the end of their