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Elena Polchovskaya, 2014

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Таврический Национальный университет им. В. И. Вернадского



Факультет иностранной филологии

Кафедра ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­английского языка и литературы





James Joyce “Two Gallants”. Text analyses

Дисциплина: История английской литературы



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Симферополь, 2014

Text analysis of

Two Gallants

written by James Joyce



The short story under consideration is Two Gallants written by a famous English-speaking writer. It is one of the seediest stories in Dubliners. James Joyce was an Irish, modernist writer who wrote in a ground-breaking style that was known both for its complexity and explicit content.

As for literary artistic system, Two Gallants belongs to the modernistic trend. Modernism tries to break with traditional styles, experiment with literary forms and express new ideas. In his work James Joyce turned to the human consciousness away from social problems. Modernism addresses the following themes: breaking down of social norms, rejection of social conventions and religion, anger against the world wars.

Two Gallants is a short story as it is covered only one event of the main characters’ lives. The genre chosen by the writer dictates the adoption of the belles-lettres style. Several characteristic features pertaining to belles-lettres style texts are observed in Two Gallants.

In Two Gallants James Joyce uses a lot of symbols. One of the most important symbolic items is the harp on which a man played the mournful song: “Not far from the porch of the club a harpist stood in the roadway, playing to a little ring of listeners…His harp, too, heedless that her coverings had fallen about her knees, seemed weary alike of the eyes of strangers and of her master’s hands. One hand played in the bass the melody of Silent, O Moyle, while the other hand careered in the treble after each group of notes. The notes of the air sounded deep and full.”In this short story, we arrive at deeper understanding of both English-speaking cultures and our own. Concerning the harp, it is a traditional symbol of Ireland. Joyce uses it to suggest the declineof Ireland and its people. The harp is typical of Joyce’s national references. 

The other symbol which is notable is the colour of the ginger beer and the colour of the peas. Lenehanis sitting in the café having something to eat. He orders beer that was orange and a plate of peas of green colour. The writer wishes to convey straight facts concerning the national flag of Ireland. It was made to put emphasis on the political landscape of Ireland at the time the story was written and the state of paralysis that existed.

Besides, the woman that Corley meets is also significant, particularly how she is dressed. Joyce has her wearing a blue dress and a white sailor hat. These colours are important because they are the colours that would usually be associated with the Virgin Mary. Again Joyce may be suggesting, through symbolism, that the Irish Catholic Church is responsible for the paralysis that was affecting Ireland at the turn of the twentieth century. Also Joyce’s use of street names, mostly named after English people, is also significant as it is also possible that Joyce is suggesting the paralysis affecting Ireland is caused by Britain (as well as the Catholic Church), which at the time Dubliners was written would have been under British rule.

The route that Lenehan takes while waiting for Corley is also important as it suggests a circular pattern. Lenehan ends up on the same streets that he has been previously on with Corley. Which in turn may suggest the idea of Lenehan going nowhere, or going around in circles, which again would suggest a type of paralysis. It is also significant that Ely Place, the street both Corley and Lenehan end up on at the end of the story is a dead end. Again this suggests that both men are going nowhere. It is possible that Joyce is suggesting, through the movement of both Corley and Lenehan that Ireland and the Irish people too, are going nowhere or are in a state of paralysis.

James Joyce was born on February 2, 1882 in Dublin, Ireland. He published Portrait of the Artist in 1916 and caught the attention of Ezra Pound. With Ulysses, Joyce perfected his stream-of-consciousness style and became a literary celebrity. The explicit content of his prose brought about landmark legal decisions on obscenity. Joyce battled eye ailments for most of his life. He died in 1941.

Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories and was published in 1914. It is certainly his most accessible book — relatively easy to comprehend and follow, whereas the others mentioned tend to challenge even the most sophisticated reader. In Dubliners, he does not yet employ the techniques of mimetic narrative or stream-of-consciousness, but he paves the way here for those technical breakthroughs. Mainly, Joyce worked and played in Dubliners at plotting and characterization, description and dialogue, and point of view. The setting of Dubliners is in and around the city of Dublin, Ireland. Though the capital city of Ireland, the Dublin in which Joyce grew up was a provincial place — far less cosmopolitan than a number of other Western European cities of similar size.

The theme of Two Gallants is inequality. The author draws the reader’s attention to such themes as class difference and poverty. James Joyce evokes the theme of poverty through details. Especially in this short story, one of the main characters, Lenehan, sees no future for himself and sits down to a miserable supper consisting only of peas and ginger beer. The story addresses a universal problem and it really teaches the reader a lesson what to do in your life and how to behave not to become such a “gallant” in society. The theme grows out of the events in the story.

The text aims at a psychological influence on the readers to convince them of the reality and authenticity of the described topic. This is achieved by reference to events that took place in the author’s hometown. The extract is aimed at acquainting the reader with some disputable problems of social aspects of life. The story addresses to such problems as aimlessness of many young urban men. Unfortunately, exactly this problem in the short story is not solved.

The author’s tone is ironic in this piece of text. First of all, the title of the story brings the ironic effect as the main characters were just useless urban men who don’t want to do anything. James Joyce uses irony to emphasise his point concerning the main charecters’ lifestyle. Corley and Lenehan are anything but fine, chivalrous men. Instead, they make an unpleasant practice of duping maids into stealing from their employers. Of the two men, Lenehan is the more self-reflective, and he provides a quiet, contemplative balance for the burly actions of Corley, who has crafted and executed their current plan.

Lenehan is a Dublin man quite literally on the edge. He has one foot on the path and one on the road as he walks with Corley, he must bide time while Corley woos the girl, he lives on the verge of bankruptcy, and many consider him to be “a leech.” At the age of thirty-one, Lenehan yearns for a comfortable life, but he is no less guilty of deceit than Corley is. Both men lead dissolute lives and have few prospects, and nothing but easy money gives them hope. The meanderings of the story ultimately lead to the gold coin, suggesting that for both of these men, the coin is their ultimate reward and desire.

Even though Lenehan and Corley use betrayal to make money, both men are anxious about treachery. Corley orchestrates his encounter with the maid defensively, allowing Lenehan only distant glimpses of the maid for fear of competition. Similarly, Lenehan pesters Corley about his choice of victim, worried that the plan will fall flat and leave him penniless yet again. When Corley and the maid reappear later than Lenehan expected, Lenehan momentarily convinces himself that Corley has cheated him out of the profits, and not until the final sentence of the story can we be certain that the men’s collaboration is intact.

This constant worry about betrayal reappears throughout the whole story always recalls Ireland’s political scandal in which the politician Parnell, according to his loyal followers, was abandoned by the Irish government and many voters when news of his affair leaked into the press. Lenehan and Corley are part of a generation disappointed after Parnell’s downfall who now feel they have no one to trust. This state of mind leads only to further betrayal.

As for Two Gallants, the short story has neutral writing:”He became serious and silent when he had said this. His tongue was tired for he had been talking all the afternoon in a public-house in Dorset Street. Most people considered Lenehan a leech but, in spite of this reputation, his adroitness and eloquence had always prevented his friends from forming any general policy against him. He had a brave manner of coming up to a party of them in a bar and of holding himself nimbly at the borders of the company until he was included in a round. He was a sporting vagrant armed with a vast stock of stories, limericks and riddles. He was insensitive to all kinds of discourtesy. No one knew how he achieved the stern task of living, but his name was vaguely associated with racing tissues.”

The author’s attitude is not that of admiring as he shows the main characters from the ironic point of view. The storytelling is bizarre, alarming and disturbing, always with a nasty sting in the tail. The author sounds well-intentioned, disapproving, moody and even unpredictable. The tone is implied rather than stated explicitly.

The story has the closed plot structure but the twists in the plot are surprising, especially in the end of the story. But still it is necessary to mention that the plot is of classical cunning and intricacy. The actions are linear as the events described without any reference to some other facts. Besides it is difficult to say that the reader can wait for such an ending. The events are unpredictable in the unfolding story.

The central conflict of Two Gallants is the uselessness in life. One of the main characters, I mean Lenehan, in his thirty-one have nothing in his life: no job, no family. To emphasise the conflict that is decribed in the short story, the author gives the description of the situation when Lenehan was sitting in a café. The narration follows the chronological order of events. The end leaves room for suggestion but the conclusion reinforces the dominant impression.

The story is told from the third-person point of view as the narrator does not participate in the action and it is described as happening to some he and she. But the story-teller perfectly knows what is going on in the minds of the characters, especially in the mind of Leneham as his thoughts were shown better than the others. The narrator speaks to us without any ironic intervention by the author. The voice of the narrator is immensely flexible. It ranges from reflective amusement to exasperation. The voice of the central character has a distinct role, though it can always be modified by direct intervention of the narrator’s own voice.

The author places strong emphasis on setting. Each physical object is described in dpecific detail, as single location for characters in action: “THE grey warm evening of August had descended upon the city and a mild warm air, a memory of summer, circulated in the streets. The streets, shuttered for the repose of Sunday, swarmed with a gaily coloured crowd. Like illumined pearls the lamps shone from the summits of their tall poles upon the living texture below which, changing shape and hue unceasingly, sent up into the warm grey evening air an unchanging unceasing murmur.”

Moreover, James Joyce gives details of some street in Dublin, naming them: “Two young men came down the hill of Rutland Square… “ “He became serious and silent when he had said this. His tongue was tired for he had been talking all the afternoon in a public-house in Dorset Street…” “So we went for a walk round by the canal and she told me she was a slavey in a house in Baggot Street. I put my arm round her and squeezed her a bit that night…”At the corner of Hume Street a young woman was standing.” “Lenehan walked as far as the Shelbourne Hotel where he halted and waited. After waiting for a little time he saw them coming towards him and, when they turned to the right, he followed them, stepping lightly in his white shoes, down one side of Merrion Square. As he walked on slowly, timing his pace to theirs, he watched Corley's head which turned at every moment towards the young woman's face like a big ball revolving on a pivot. He kept the pair in view until he had seen them climbing the stairs of the Donnybrook tram; then he turned about and went back the way he had come.” “He walked listlessly round Stephen's Green and then down Grafton Street. Though his eyes took note of many elements of the crowd through which he passed they did so morosely.”

So, it is necessary to mention that the writer gives real names of the street and real directions that exist in the city described. The author uses descriptive details to set a scene. As it was written above in the examples, the reader can see that the author uses vivid words to describe the city. All elements in the description contribute to the mood. People and places, real and imagined, are woven with such skill and confidence into the fabric of the text.

The story takes place on Saturday evening in August: “THE grey warm evening of August had descended upon the city and a mild warm air, a memory of summer, circulated in the streets. The streets, shuttered for the repose of Sunday, swarmed with a gaily coloured crowd.”

As for the main characters, it is necessary to make emphasis on the way James Joyce presents them. From the beginning the author describes Corley and Lenehan through appearance: “Two young men came down the hill of Rutland Square. One of them was just bringing a long monologue to a close. The other, who walked on the verge of the path and was at times obliged to step on to the road, owing to his companion's rudeness, wore an amused listening face. He was squat and ruddy. A yachting cap was shoved far back from his forehead and the narrative to which he listened made constant waves of expression break forth over his face from the corners of his nose and eyes and mouth. Little jets of wheezing laughter followed one another out of his convulsed body. His eyes, twinkling with cunning enjoyment, glanced at every moment towards his companion's face. Once or twice he rearranged the light waterproof which he had slung over one shoulder in toreador fashion. His breeches, his white rubber shoes and his jauntily slung waterproof expressed youth. But his figure fell into rotundity at the waist, his hair was scant and grey and his face, when the waves of expression had passed over it, had a ravaged look.”

The writes gives the detail description of the characters: “Corley was the son of an inspector of police and he had inherited his father's frame and gait. He walked with his hands by his sides, holding himself erect and swaying his head from side to side. His head was large, globular and oily; it sweated in all weathers; and his large round hat, set upon it sideways, looked like a bulb which had grown out of another. He always stared straight before him as if he were on parade and, when he wished to gaze after someone in the street, it was necessary for him to move his body from the hips. At present he was about town. Whenever any job was vacant a friend was always ready to give him the hard word. He was often to be seen walking with policemen in plain clothes, talking earnestly. He knew the inner side of all affairs and was fond of delivering final judgments. He spoke without listening to the speech of his companions. His conversation was mainly about himself: what he had said to such a person and what such a person had said to him and what he had said to settle the matter. When he reported these dialogues he aspirated the first letter of his name after the manner of Florentines.”

Besides, the author paints a moving portrait of Lenehan through speech: “His voice seemed winnowed of vigour; and to enforce his words he added with humour:

"That takes the solitary, unique, and, if I may so call it, recherche biscuit!"

He became serious and silent when he had said this. His tongue was tired for he had been talking all the afternoon in a public-house in Dorset Street. Most people considered Lenehan a leech but, in spite of this reputation, his adroitness and eloquence had always prevented his friends from forming any general policy against him. He had a brave manner of coming up to a party of them in a bar and of holding himself nimbly at the borders of the company until he was included in a round. He was a sporting vagrant armed with a vast stock of stories, limericks and riddles. He was insensitive to all kinds of discourtesy. No one knew how he achieved the stern task of living, but his name was vaguely associated with racing tissues.”

To sum it up characters in Two Gallants are realistic, ordinary and true-to-life. The dialogues are convincing and natural. The language chosen is appropriate to the characters. We find a wide variety of social types, especially in this short story we can observe young urban men who haven’t achieve success in their life.

Concerning the choice of words, James Joyce uses colloquial English that is used in casual, everyday circumstances. The writer uses brilliant and idiosyncratic language: “He walked listlessly round Stephen's Green and then down Grafton Street. Though his eyes took note of many elements of the crowd through which he passed they did so morosely. He found trivial all that was meant to charm him and did not answer the glances which invited him to be bold. He knew that he would have to speak a great deal, to invent and to amuse, and his brain and throat were too dry for such a task. The problem of how he could pass the hours till he met Corley again troubled him a little. He could think of no way of passing them but to keep on walking.”

The most important technique that should be mentioned is James Joyce’s epiphany. It is a moment when a character experiences self-understanding. An epiphany is a “showing forth,” a revelation of what a character or his or her situation is. This epiphany can be made by the character or the reader. In “Two Gallants” the characters are totally unaware of their true situation. It is the reader who, in a negative epiphany, recognizes the “coin” in the hands of Corley as a sign of the true nature of these Dublin gallants.

In Two Gallants epiphany is shown through Lenehan’s predictions about the Corley’s adventure. Lenehan imagines where his friend and a women can go, what they do and in what time they come at the place. It is somehow the twisting reality in the character’s mind. And in the end the reader can see the result of Lenehan’s imagination. We can observe Corley to come and bring a coin: “They had reached the corner of Ely Place. Still without answering, Corley swerved to the left and went up the side street. His features were composed in stern calm. Lenehan kept up with his friend, breathing uneasily. He was baffled and a note of menace pierced through his voice.

"Can't you tell us?" he said. "Did you try her?"

Corley halted at the first lamp and stared grimly before him. Then with a grave gesture he extended a hand towards the light and, smiling, opened it slowly to the gaze of his disciple. A small gold coin shone in the palm.”


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