What does the story signify?

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What does the story signify?

Joyce’s “A Painful Case” shows the clash between two diverse types of people; those who assume they cannot do any better for themselves, and those who desire to help them help themselves.

How does it signify?

Mr. James Duffy is a lonely man who is not incredibly fond of the Dublin suburbs. He lives in an old, dismal, threadbare house with a black iron bedstead, an iron washstand, some chairs, a coal-scuttle, a square table, and a fender and irons. Compared to a blissful home of the present day, one may suppose that someone presently died in Mr. Duffy’s house. One day, he was sitting at a Rotunda, next to a lady, Mrs. Sinica, and her spawn. That one meeting would be the launch of something fresh for the both of them. Mrs. Sinica would either meet Mr. Duffy at the park gate, or somewhere in town, or she’d bid him over to her house. Mr. Sinica encouraged his visitations, thinking that Mr. Duffy was after his daughter’s hand in holy matrimony. All of the instances he spent with her influenced his life, and he started to live somewhat different than previously. During one of the meetings, Mrs. Sinica got slightly frisky, and Mr. Duffy left and has no communiqué with her for a week. He eventually requested her to meet up with him at a cake shop where they strolled around for some hours conversing. A few days after the two arranged to sever their interaction, he obtained his music and books from Mrs. Sinica. Several years passed, and Mr. Duffy never heard from Mrs. Sinica again. He wrote more seldom than before, and kept away from the concerts for fear that he would see her. One late afternoon, as he was analyzing a newspaper editorial, he observed an article about the “DEATH OF A LADY AT SYNDEY PARADE” and forced himself to continue. Once he read the subsection, and realized that the deceased woman was his old companion, something arose in his stomach that didn’t seem familiar to him. He deemed strongly that she had not only degraded herself, but him as well. With this in mind, he came to a public-house for some hot punch, and entered the park gate and strolled under some emaciated trees, and desolate valleys, as the two had done four years earlier.

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