Joyce and the Two Irelands

Chapter Three: Dubliners

chapter three 0 9 Dubliners Insofar as Joyce wrote the stories in Dubliners with the idea that they would help transform the country, they all reflect a central notion of the Revival, but the movement itself also has a prominent place in the volume. The collection follows an arrangement that suggests the Revival’s growth: the Revival is simply alluded to in ‘‘A Little Cloud’’; and then later on, in ‘‘A Mother’’ and ‘‘The Dead,’’ it appears as a major subject. Though the relationship between Catholics and Protestants might not be considered a major subject in Dubliners, this issue crops up early in the volume and ultimately figures in over a third of the stories. In these stories, as in his ‘‘Saints and Sages’’ lecture, Joyce gives contradictory views of the relationship, now emphasizing similarities between the two cultures, now differences. He does both in his characterization of Farrington and Alleyne in ‘‘Counterparts.’’ With a wife at ‘‘chapel,’’ and a son who promises to say a Hail Mary for him, Farrington is clearly identified as Catholic, while Alleyne’s name, along with his ‘‘North of Ireland accent’’ (D 86) and his partnership in the firm of Crosbie & Alleyne almost as clearly identify him as Protestant. The implied sectarian difference in ‘‘Counterparts’’ is juxtaposed with other contrasts so that the central characters are opposites in a variety of ways. Alleyne is the boss, Farrington the employee, Alleyne is from the North, Farrington from the South; Farrington is large, Alleyne is small (Farrington thinks of him as a ‘‘dwarf’’). The critical point in the story comes when, in the presence of the other clerks and the attractive Miss Delacour, Alleyne loudly blames Farrington 68 Tseng 2000.8.26 13:25 OCV:0 6052 Potts / JOYCE AND THE TWO IRELANDS / sheet 80 of 232 dubliners for two missing letters and when Farrington claims to know nothing of the letters says ‘‘Tell me, . . . do you take me for a fool? Do you think me an utter fool?’’ (D 91). Farrington’s spontaneous response, ‘‘I don’t think, sir, . . . that that’s a fair question to put to me’’ wins him a temporary victory that turns to defeat as he is forced to make an ‘‘abject apology.’’ Farrington recognizes, moreover, that from now on ‘‘his life [in the office] would be a hell to him’’ (D 92). His later arm-wrestling match with the Englishman Weathers pits Farrington against the second of the two cultures with which Catholics traditionally have been in conflict. The onlookers who urge Farrington ‘‘to uphold the national honor’’ call attention to the cultural side of the match. Like the verbal clash with Alleyne, the arm-wrestling match with Weathers ends with Farrington’s defeat. That he loses twice, after insisting on two out of three and, more importantly, that he loses to ‘‘a stripling,’’ ‘‘a mere boy’’ (D 96, 97) leaves Farrington angered and humiliated. It also links him with Alleyne, who had been angered and humiliated by the retort of Farrington, a mere employee. The two men also are linked by their shared habit of showing off in front of women. We see this habit in Alleyne’s first scene with Miss Delacour, where Joyce describes him sitting with his right foot ‘‘thrown . . . jauntily on his left knee’’ and loftily dismissing Farrington with a flick of his finger (D 90). In the scene where he denounces Farrington for the missing letters , Alleyne is shown ‘‘glancing first for approval’’ at Miss Delacour (D 91) before asking the rhetorical question that will backfire on him. That she was present when Farrington made his retort and ‘‘began to smile broadly’’ (D 91) at it accounts for much of Alleyne’s rage and humiliation. Cheered by six shillings that he gained after work by pawning his watch, and remembering his brief victory over Alleyne, Farrington heads for a night of drinking. In a cruder version of Alleyne’s behavior toward Miss Delacour (but much like T. S. Eliot’s clerk with his ‘‘one bold stare’’), Farrington walks along the Dublin streets, ‘‘staring masterfully at the officegirls ’’ (D 93). Later in the pub he ‘‘gazed admiringly’’ at an attractive woman with a London accent (D 95). She seems to be returning his look and on leaving the pub ‘‘brushed against his chair and said O, pardon!’’ (D 95). But in another of the defeats he experiences this day, she leaves without looking back at him. Suddenly...