Dubliners

In the three stories in this section, Joyce focuses on working class people (two men and one woman) grappling with the Imbalances of Power in their circumstances. “The Boarding House,” an outlier in the collection, uses an omniscient perspective that moves between three different characters rather than remaining with one. The story begins from the perspective of Mrs. Mooney, the second female protagonist in the collection. Unlike Eveline, Joyce defines Mrs. Mooney by her ability to take charge of her own destiny. The story immediately presents Mrs. Mooney as someone living on the edge of convention and determined to make the best of her life as a “separated” woman (at this time formal divorce was not yet legal in Ireland) and a single mother. Initially, Mrs. Mooney’s characterization appears counterintuitive to the book’s core theme of The Inertia and Paralysis of the Mundane since both Mrs. Mooney and the younger Polly Mooney are ultimately able to transcend their limitations (albeit within societal conventions). However, Joyce roots the sense of restriction and immobility of the story in Mr. Doran’s character, who finds himself trapped into an unasked-for marriage as a result of his sexual desires. Joyce depicts both of the female characters as shrewdly manipulative, with strong wills; they use the resources they are given to make their way in a world intrinsically built to disempower them.

Joyce mirrors Mr. Doran’s sense of paralysis in the protagonists of the following two stories, “A Little Cloud” and “Counterparts,” in which each character feels trapped in their chosen professions. In “A Little Cloud,” Joyce depicts Little Chandler as a middle-class man who aspires to greatness but feels emasculated by his circumstances and unable to achieve his desires. He views his old friend Gallaher as a mythologized figure—someone who was able to get out of Dublin and make a name for himself as so many aspire and fail to do. Little Chandler views Gallaher as a success story, but one whose ascent was largely based on luck and personal charm rather than determination. His insecurities drive him to criticize Gallaher as undeserving rather than seeing him as inspirational.

Joyce chooses a setting for the story that immediately triggers Little Chandler’s insecurities—a prestigious restaurant—to establish the inertia and paralysis he feels in his own circumstances: “He had never been in Corless’s, but he knew the value of the name. He knew that people went there after the theatre to eat oysters and drink liqueurs” (69). The social status of the restaurant underscores the inadequacy that Little Chandler feels, stepping outside his natural element to meet his friend.

Joyce depicts Little Chandler’s defense against his insecurities and sense of inadequacy as self-aggrandizement. As his meeting approaches, he feels himself “superior to the people he passed. For the first time his soul revolted against the dull inelegance of Capel Street” (70). Because of his association with Gallaher, Little Chandler convinces himself he has already attained success. En route to the restaurant, he attempts to craft a performance of importance and worldliness, strategizing how best to appear part of “the Celtic school […]. It was a pity his name was not more Irish-looking” (71). The re-emergence of the Irish language as en vogue appears throughout the collection (most notably in “A Mother”). Once Little Chandler confronts Gallaher in person, Little Chandler pushes the performance further, convincing himself that he's unimpressed with his old friend’s prestige. However, the contrasts between them make Little Chandler increasingly aware of his own stagnation, culminating in his sense of disillusionment with his own life.

In “Counterparts,” Joyce represents Farrington as failing to measure up in two tests emblematic of a traditional, toxic version of heterosexual masculinity—sexual conquest of women and physical strength—catalyzing his need to reassert his sense of dominance through violent aggression. Unlike Little Chandler, who attempts to assuage his insecurities through a performance of imagined prestige, Farrington seeks to feel a sense of dominance and control over his environment at any cost. Joyce introduces him in the context of a suffocating workplace environment where he wields no power at all and self-medicates through alcohol. In one of the most overt examples of Joyce’s motif of addiction to alcohol in the collection, Farrington sneaks away from his desk to drink and even pawns his pocket watch so that he can continue drinking to oblivion. Farrington experiences a brief moment of empowerment when he stands up to his oppressive boss, highlighting the collection’s thematic engagement with imbalances of power. Joyce echoes the thrill of this victory later in the pub when Farrington regales his friends with the story of his office comeback. However, the brief sense of empowerment quickly erodes as he continues to seek the same sense of dominance in his encounter with an attractive woman who rebuffs him and with his friend who defeats him in a challenge of physical strength. These defeats leave Farrington “full of smoldering anger and revengefulness […] humiliated and discontented; he did not even feel drunk; and he had only twopence in his pocket. He cursed everything” (94). Joyce suggests that the emasculation that Farrington feels drives him to graphically beat his young son, seeking empowerment in the only way he has left and illustrating how far he has fallen in his pursuit of personal power.