Counterparts

“I told you it must be ready by four o’clock.

—But Mr Shelley said, sir, ….

—Mr Shelley said, sir…. Kindly attend to what I say and not to what Mr Shelley says, sir.”

James Joyce uses dialogue and makes style choices to reveal Mr. Alleyne’s disrespect for his employee. When Farrington attempts to clarify his understanding of the instructions by referencing a previous conversation with Mr. Shelley, his boss cuts him off and imitates him. Joyce uses dashes instead of quotation marks to break from one speaker to the next during periods of dialogue and omits references that clarify who said which parts, as a pointed lack of punctuation or clarity is a common technique across Joyce’s work and creates a sense of overwhelm. The omission of instructions from his dialogue has the effect of speeding up the pace of the discourse, and in a realistic way, the speakers seem conflated and overlapping.

“The middle of the month was past and, if he could get the copy done in time, Mr Alleyne might give him an order on the cashier.”

In his desperate attempt to come up with funds, Farrington imagines a scenario where his boss will give him an advance on his next paycheck. This indirect characterization reveals just how delusional Farrington’s thinking is. Due to being derelict in his duties, he is not in good standing with his boss, yet he sees him as a potential source for a loan. This fantasy also compounds how little foresight Farrington has, since a payday loan would prevent him from providing for his family.

“The chief clerk glanced at the hatrack but, seeing the row complete, offered no remark. As soon as he was on the landing the man pulled a shepherd’s plaid cap out of his pocket, put it on his head and ran quickly down the rickety stairs.”

In the early part of the 20th century, men wore hats whenever they went outdoors. In Farrington’s office, all the men’s hats line the wall while they work. When the chief clerk glances at the wall, he is looking for a space where a hat is missing to see if anyone is not at their desk. Farrington knows this, and therefore keeps his hat in his pocket so its absence will not draw attention to his departure. This action conveys one of the ways Farrington lies to enable his alcoholism.

“—Mr Alleyne has been calling for you, said the chief clerk severely. Where were you?

The man glanced at the two clients who were standing at the counter as if to intimate that their presence prevented him from answering. As the clients were both male the chief clerk allowed himself a laugh:

 —I know that game, he said. Five times in one day is a little bit…. Well, you better look sharp.”

Joyce uses ambiguity in this dialogue, so neither the reader nor Farrington have a real way of knowing if the chief clerk is aware of the actual reason for Farrington’s absences. When Farrington indicates that he is unable to speak freely in front of clients, he thinks it is sufficiently implied that he has been using the restroom. However, the addition of the ellipses in the chief clerk’s dialogue indicates that the clerk is leaving something unsaid. How much he knows is not clear, and it muddies Farrington’s confidence.

“Miss Delacour was a middleaged woman of Jewish appearance. Mr Alleyne was said to be sweet on her or on her money. She came to the office often and stayed a long time when she came. She was sitting beside his desk now in an aroma of perfumes, smoothing the handle of her umbrella and nodding the great black feather in her hat.”

Miss Delacour is exotic, and her presence indicates a world beyond the confines of Ireland. Her foreign quality also foreshadows the British actress Farrington will encounter in the pub. Miss Delacour’s culture, perfume, and ostentatious hat offer glimpses of a broader world to the working-class Irish staff. These are commodities that she either purchased abroad or had to be imported. Her presence in the office emphasizes the entrapment of the Dubliners who will never leave their home country. It is a temptation to glimpse what riches people who leave Ireland can potentially possess.

“He felt strong enough to clear out the whole office singlehanded. His body ached to do something, to rush out and revel in violence. All the indignities of his life enraged him.”

Farrington perceives himself as a victim and powerless against his circumstances. The one quality that he still possesses is his imposing physicality. It is deteriorating in his middle age, but it has not yet slipped so far as to be inaccessible to him. When he is under duress, he regains his composure by tapping into fantasies of physical violence.

“But they had never pulled together from the first, he and Mr Alleyne, ever since the day Mr Alleyne had overheard him mimicking his North of Ireland accent to amuse Higgins and Miss Parker.”

This reflection by Farrington is one of the few times in the story when the protagonist takes some responsibility for his relationship with his boss. The memory also reveals his need to have the approval of his coworkers and his ability to entertain, even if it is at the expense of his boss. Joyce subtly completes a realistic portrait of a debased human being, but with the inclusion of glimpses of the person he was before his lying and addiction overshadowed his life. That said, his casual delivery of the memory doesn’t imply remorse for his actions, and this lack of self-awareness regarding his circumstances persists throughout the story.

“The man passed through the crowd, looking on the spectacle generally with proud satisfaction and staring masterfully at the office girls. His head was full of the noises of tram gongs and swishing trolleys and his nose already sniffed the curling fumes of punch.”

Farrington has the money from his pawned watch in his pocket, and he is about to embark on his evening of drinking with friends. His mood is elated and confident, reminiscent of the outlook of a younger, freer man. His happiness in this moment will serve to underscore how far he will fall by the end of the night. The distance he travels from hope and optimism to the physical abuser of his son is what makes him a tragic figure.

“Just as they were naming their poisons who should come in but Higgins! Of course he had to join in with the others. The men asked him to give his version of it and he did so with great vivacity.”

Higgins is a colleague of Farrington’s who witnessed the confrontation between Mr. Alleyne and Farrington. Calling on Higgins to share his perception of the interaction provides entertainment, as well as validates Farrington’s anecdote. Higgins’s contribution adds to the camaraderie of pub culture since now a third party tells the story of Farrington publicly humiliating his boss. This ensures that the story will be fodder for future entertainment.

“Rain was drizzling down on the cold streets.”

The warmth of the pub contrasts with the cold atmosphere of the city. Every setting in the story apart from the pub is cold and unwelcoming. Many of the beverages the men drink are either warmed or create a warming effect in the men who drink them.

“She glanced at him once or twice and, when the party was leaving the room, she brushed against his chair and said O, pardon! in a London accent.”

The woman Farrington ogles in the pub is British and refined. When she leaves without returning his eye contact, he feels personally insulted. The fact that she is British and dismisses him reinforces his own feelings of inferiority at the hands of colonial England.

“He longed to be back again in the hot reeking publichouse.”

Farrington struggles to break away from his attachment to the pub as he returns home. The night did not offer him the relief from the humiliations of his day that he had hoped it would, yet he still finds it preferable to going home. Though he insultingly refers to it as “reeking,” betraying the idealization he held for it earlier, it is still a source of joy and warmth, unlike his home with an empty hearth.

“He loathed returning to his home. When he went in by the sidedoor he found the kitchen empty and the kitchen fire nearly out. He bawled upstairs.”

Here the interior of Farrington’s home is as cold and unwelcoming as the streets of Dublin. It is late in the evening, yet his wife is absent, and the children are upstairs in bed. Rather than quietly enter his home, Farrington yells in the same manner that he experiences yelling at his workplace. When Mr. Alleyne yells, the men in his office jump, and when Farrington yells, Tom must wake and run to greet him.