While he thinks on life while observing people in the park, which shows the invading melancholia that is little Chandler’s most meticulous suit, the reader notices that he has not yet had the acquiring of wisdom that would allow him to make the distinction between his life, and life itself, and this philosophy is ruled by this perpetual melancholia, the only obvious remnants of a long and habitually stifled desire for passion. Chandler thinks of “fortune” being useless to struggle against rather than misfortune, and Joyce gives this deliberate syntax to convey Chand

Joyce intentionally colors all the characters in the story in a light that shows a lack of something in their life, whether it be an empathy or a working will. The intentionality of the characters reaching epiphanies that they never use to change their decrepit and often ebbing situation is a moral statement about the degradation of the Irish soul. Chandler’s personal dilemma goes further to apply to humanity in general at the same time. Joyce uses emotional situations to say something about the declining culture that is Ireland, and simultaneously warning the reader of the fate that they will inevitably walk into if they shape their hearts and minds into ineffectual masses, detached and devoid of the very will that defines life in it’s greatest proportion.

Even though Joyce fills Chandler with reservations that culminate through the progression of the story into his painful epiphany, he still holds an element of childish wonder at Gallaher’s life, mostly because he desires the fearless will himself. Chandler, being a character of seriousness, cannot ever lead the sort of life that Gallaher recounts with ease, because it is not in his nature for such impulsiveness, and neither is he inclined to do what his heart commands. The only time we see Chandler as such, is when he eventually screams at his child to quiet himself. That moment is the ultimate moment of lucidity for the reader, where we see Chandlers true timid existence, where the only time he has the courage to let loose his frustrations is on a being too undeveloped to pose any threat. He is in bondage by his worries and insecurities, and cannot let any potential passion pass forth, because his fear of the reaction he would receive from the world outweighs the intensity of his emotion. This moment is more of a realization for the reader than it is for Chandler, since the emotions of the scene come too quickly for Chandler to process logically and properly, which is why the last image we are left of by Joyce, is him cowering in a corner, unable to move or speak.

Joyce cuts to Chandler already having arrived at his home after his disappointing meeting with Gallaher, cradling his child in his arms. Joyce makes a painful literary juxtaposition, by letting you into a past story of him and his wife’s shared life, when Chandler bought her a gift in more hopeful days (though by the note of Chandlers blushing in the story, we are reminded yet again that he has not yet changed), and then immediately bringing you into the portion of the story where he is confronted by the face of his wife in a photograph that reflects his own passionless existence. A resentment of his life arises as he looks up from the photograph to see his life defined by the furniture in his flat which his wife picked out (noting his lack of control over even primary matters). He wonders if it is not yet too late to become brave and inspired, and take up a life of risk such as Gallaher had done, but he is held down by the deflating thought that there was still the furniture (that his wife has picked out) to be payed for. Before the complete desolation of despair settles in, he reaches out to a book of poetry which cautiously (cautiously as in all matters of his life and cautiously since he is hindered by the sleeping child in his arms, symbolic in its own right), he opens the pages of a poetry book and begins to read. It is worth noting that his son is only referred to as “it” or “the child,” expressing how detached he is from his own flesh and blood, that he as a father would view his child as an obstruction, or at the least, an object.

Chandler does many things through the story that act as symbolic insights into his character, techniques that Joyce as a writer employs to give a detailed description of him without making a psychological and physical list of description. One of these is the way he takes his whiskey. The fact that Joyce makes sure the reader is aware of the way he

Some topics in this essay:
Little Chandler, Moulin Rouge, , Gallaher Joyce, Chandler Irish, Chandler Ironic, Chandlers Gallaher’s, Chandler Chandler, gallaher’s life, wife picked, gathers hope, passionless existence, chandler’s life, reader chandler, sight chandler, little chandler, chandler character, idea chandler,