Gender in the Stories A Little Cloud and Counterparts in Dubliners

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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.

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