Two gallants, By James Joyce (1914)

Two gallants, By James Joyce (1914)

7/10


The strongest feeling I felt throughout the story was pity for Lenehan. He is suffering from a toxic friendship, insecurity about his manliness, and the fear of living his life the wrong way. He may have made a lot of wrong choices in his life, but he is still just a weak man after all.

I felt that the ending of this story is one of the typical ending James Joyce used for the short stories in <Dubliners>. Corley showing the golden coin to Lenehan is quite similar to how the narrator explains the feelings of the boy in <Araby>, and also with how the narrator explains the expressions on Eveline’s face in <Eveline>. In all these stories, Joyce slowly builds up the tension throughout the story, and uses the ending to perfect it.

I liked how Joyce used the word ‘gallant’ to describe Corley and Lenehan. These two are nothing like gallants. In fact, there manners are almost the exact opposite of chivalry. This irony made the cruel and sinful manipulative situation look almost a bit comical.

I liked the humane descriptions about Lenehan, so I rated this story seven out of ten. (194 words)

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