Dubliners Quotes Flashcards
He drank, plundered the till,
He drank, plundered the till, ran headlong into debt. It was no use making him take the pledge; he was sure to break out again a few days after.
“The Boarding House”, Drunkenness
“The Boarding House” opens with the narrator’s description of Mr. Mooney, a husband whose failure as a provider sets the scene. Mr. Mooney had married into his father-in-law’s business but ruined it because of his chronic drinking. As a result, Mrs. Mooney separates from him and runs her own business, a successful boarding house, one of the few professions available to a woman at the time. Known as the Madam, her shrewd management counterpoints her husband’s squandering of resources. The plot of a mother-daughter manipulation of a bachelor boarder into marriage comments ironically on men’s misuse of their freedom.
The dark damp night was
‘Counterparts’ The dark damp night was coming and he longed to spend it in the bars, drinking with his friends amid the glare of gas and the clatter of glasses.
Counterparts, Drunkenness
The narrator of “Counterparts” describes a law clerk, Farrington, trying to meet a deadline at his office. He fantasizes about being away from his job and at the bar, drinking. This particular day he has sneaked out of work five times for a quick drink. His obsessive thirst betrays alcoholism. Between the mental distraction of longing for the bar and the physical toll the five drinks must be taking, readers understand his irresponsibility. Farrington can’t break the cycle by recognizing his own fault in this failure.
What a nice evening they
What a nice evening they would have, all the children singing! Only she hoped that Joe wouldn’t come in drunk. He was so different when he took any drink.
Clay, Drunkenness
In “Clay,” Maria travels to visit her brother Joe’s family on All Hallow’s Eve, a special occasion. She has been reflecting fondly about Joe, whom she helped raise, but as the narrator reveals here, she feels a bit apprehensive about the evening ahead. While he has been very kind to her and even invited her to live with his family, Joe transforms into his worse self under the influence of alcohol. As a respectable woman, though of working class, Maria herself rarely, if ever, drinks, and certainly nothing strong. Throughout Dubliners, sober women pick up the pieces from men’s irresponsible drinking.
Sure, amn’t I never done at
Sure, amn’t I never done at the drunken bowsy ever since he left school? ‘I won’t keep you,’ I says, ‘You must get a job for yourself.’ But, sure, it’s worse whenever he gets a job; he drinks it all.
Ivy Day in the Committee Room, Drunkenness
In “Ivy Day in the Committee Room,” the old man who attends to the Committee Room fire talks to an election official. He calls his nineteen-year-old son a drop-out and a bum. He expresses surprise that his son turned out to be an unemployed drunkard despite sending him to the Christian Brothers’ school and frequently beating him as a young child. Satisfied with his parenting, he blames his son’s wildness on the mother for spoiling him. The old man recounts how his son disrespectfully talks back to him when he’s been drinking. Readers infer the true source of his son’s behavior in the father’s long-time abuse.
They were dreadfully afraid that Freddy
[T]hey were dreadfully afraid that Freddy Malins might turn up screwed. They would not wish for worlds that any of Mary Jane’s pupils should see him under the influence, and when he was like that it was sometimes very hard to manage him.
The Dead, Drunkenness
In “The Dead,” the narrator explains the Morkan family’s anxiety in regards to Freddy Malins, a known drunkard and family friend. Everyone in the family attended their annual dance, including Freddy and his mother. They hope for the best and then manage his behavior as needed. The party includes children, however, and the Morkan sisters feel concerned about exposing the children to his drunkenness. Despite all apprehension, the thought to ban Freddy never arises. Dealing with drunk friends and relations comes with the job of being good hostesses. To ensure all goes well, guests help keep Freddy’s drinking at a manageable rate.
She set her white face
‘Eveline’ She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition.
Eveline, Inertia
In “Eveline,” the main character Eveline debates whether to leave Ireland and go to Argentina with a sailor who has been courting her. Eveline does not love the sailor, but she sees him as a means to escape. Although her life in Dublin consists of relentless hard work and abuse by her father, she promised her mother to keep the family together. The uncertainty of the venture also undermines her confidence. In the end, Eveline makes her decision—by not making a decision. Immobilized by her family’s expectations like a caged animal, her resignation to the status quo shows in her death mask face emptied of feelings.
He watched the scene and thought of
He watched the scene and thought of life; and (as always happened when he thought of life) he became sad…. He felt how useless it was to struggle against fortune, this being the burden of wisdom which the ages had bequeathed to him.
A Little Cloud, Inertia
At the beginning of “A Little Cloud,” the narrator relates how Little Chandler thinks of his life. He has a habit of morose brooding about his circumstances that inevitably ends with acceptance of the status quo. On this particular day, a visit from a childhood friend arouses his melancholy as he compares their lives. He envies Gallaher’s success as a London reporter and believes that he might be at least as successful. However, the reader can see that his habit of passivity has become a self-fulfilling prophecy: He has no idea how to struggle against fate.
He could not have carried on a comedy of
He could not have carried on a comedy of deception with her; he could not have lived with her openly. He had done what seemed to him best. How was he to blame?
A Painful Case, Inertia
At the end of “A Painful Case,” Mr. Duffy searches his soul for culpability in a woman’s death. Four years prior he had become friends with a married woman. Although he found their relationship intellectually satisfying, Mr. Duffy felt surprise when she expressed physical interest in him, and he broke off the relationship. When he reads of her death in an accident related to a drinking problem she developed after the breakup, he begins to regret his decision. Mr. Duffy recognizes that, by deciding that an extramarital relationship was not an option, he doomed both of them to be lonely forever.
Jimmy had a respect for his father’s
Jimmy had a respect for his father’s shrewdness in business matters and in this case it had been his father who first suggested the investment; money to be made in the motor business, pots of money.
After the Race, Ambition
Jimmy Doyle, the protagonist of “After the Race,” has inherited a modest wealth thanks to his father’s hard work as a butcher. Now Jimmy plans to achieve financial success of his own. He meets an extremely rich Frenchman, Ségouin, who plans to start an automobile business. The narrator here reveals that, in part due to his father’s past advice, Jimmy will invest in Ségouin’s company. Unfortunately, Jimmy has not inherited his father’s shrewdness, and his ambition to both be rich and seem rich leads him to behave recklessly while spending a celebratory night on the town with his friends. By the end of the night, Jimmy’s planned investment in the car business turns into I.O.U.s for gambling debts.
There was no doubt about it. If you wanted to succeed
There was no doubt about it. If you wanted to succeed you had to go away. You could do nothing in Dublin…. He wondered whether he could write a poem to express his idea. Perhaps Gallaher might be able to get it into some London paper for him.
A Little Cloud, Ambition
In “A Little Cloud,” the protagonist, Little Chandler, compares his own life with that of his friend Gallaher’s as he goes to meet Gallaher for the first time in many years. When they were friends in Dublin, Gallaher associated with a wild set of friends and often found himself in trouble. Since going to London, Gallaher had become a successful journalist. Little Chandler, believing himself ultimately superior to his friend, feels sure he could be at least as successful as Gallaher. Here, Little Chandler’s long-buried literary ambitions resurface: Instead of being a “tawdry” journalist, he aspires to be a poet. The problem, he believes, lies in his location, placing the blame anywhere but on his own lack of initiative.
She sat amid the chilly circle of her
She sat amid the chilly circle of her accomplishments, waiting for some suitor to brave it and offer her a brilliant life. But the young men whom she met were ordinary and she gave them no encouragement.
A Mother, Ambition
In “A Mother,” the narrator describes Miss Devlin as occupying the center of her own narcissistic existence. She expects her talents and refined manner to lead to a brilliant marriage. Preoccupied with her own goals, she gives only superficial attention to the available suitors, who are found unequal to her high standards. After passing up these men and with the threat of being an old maid at hand, she ends up marrying Mr. Kearney, a bootmaker. Her marriage doesn’t match her ambition, but she makes the best of things by transferring her ambition to her daughter’s life. As readers later see, her high expectations will again doom her to failure.
At the crest of the hill at Inchicore
‘After the Race’ At the crest of the hill at Inchicore sightseers had gathered in clumps to watch the cars careering homeward and through this channel of poverty and inaction the Continent sped its wealth and industry. Now and again the clumps of people raised the cheer of the gratefully oppressed.
After the Race, insularity
“After the Race” begins during an international automobile race running through Dublin. Although this event takes place on Irish soil, the racers come from elsewhere in Europe, and the Irish root for the French because they will not root for the British. The narrator contrasts the speeding luxury race cars with the backwards, impoverished streets. Readers can infer that the wealthy automobile racers treat Ireland like a colonial backwater they can use for their own purposes—and that the Irish populace feels happy to have them do so.
Ignatius Gallaher laughed. “The Isle
Ignatius Gallaher laughed. “The Isle of Man!” he said. “Go to London or Paris: Paris, for choice. That’d do you good.”
A Little Cloud, Insularity
In “A Little Cloud,” a staid, timid clerk named Little Chandler meets up with an old friend, Gallaher, who moved away from Dublin and became a successful London journalist. Gallaher here reacts with scorn to Little Chandler’s experience of travel being limited to an island off the coast of Ireland that is the closest foreign soil to Dublin. Gallaher seems unimpressed with what Little Chandler has done with his life and challenges him to broaden his horizons.
She asked him why he did not write out his
She asked him why he did not write out his thoughts. For what, he asked her, with careful scorn . . . To submit himself to the criticisms of an obtuse middle class which entrusted its morality to policemen and its fine arts to impressarios?
A Painful Case, Insularity
In “A Painful Case,” the narrator describes one of the many platonic meetings between an intellectual bachelor and a married matron. Mr. Duffy had held forth on his political theories, and Mrs. Sinico has complimented him by urging him to publish. Mr. Duffy’s response reveals that he views most of his fellow Irishmen as ignorant. Their idea of entertainment doesn’t include classical music, which he and Mrs. Sinico both love, but rather music-hall performances. He disdains his fellow Irishmen’s preoccupation with pragmatic mundanities rather than world-changing ideas—he supports a Socialist revolution. He explains he doesn’t write because he believes people could never understand his refined ideas. Then again, he does nothing else either, avoiding relationships of all kinds. His refined existence contains very little actual life.
Oh, well… I presume there are as good singers
Oh, well . . . I presume there are as good singers today as there were then . . . In London, Paris, Milan,” Said Mr. Bartell D’Arcy warmly. “I suppose Caruso, for example, is quite as good, if not better than any of the men you have mentioned.
The Dead, Insularity
In “The Dead,” party guests reminisce about the great singers of the past. Mr. Browne asserts that current singers lack the old singers’ talent, a reason why the great operas no longer run. Mr. Bartell D’Arcy, himself a singer, points out that singers have not actually become less talented and offers as a case in point Caruso, one of the most famous opera singers to this day. Instead, he says, the great singers simply perform elsewhere. Dublin no longer functions as a site for such performances, either due to a lack of interest, or because performers would rather be in larger cities.
