I Have Within My Ideology The Belief That Any Man Who Stands For Nothing, Not Only Could, But Would Fall For Anything I Belie

I have within my ideology the belief that any man who stands for nothing, not only could, but would fall for anything. I believe through my transaction with “A Little Cloud” from Dublin, Joyce’s repertoire and mine greatly agree through the various elements he uses to display the general paralysis of Dublin, such as character development, setting, plot, point of view, and especially epiphany as I experienced it first hand. Joyce, a seemingly masterful wordsmith, has developed this story “A Little Cloud” through great detail in a way that I can truly relate to everything I see and read; he continues in this story as in the others to reiterate and enforce this strong sense of paralysis this city bears.
Little Chandler, the main character in “A Little Cloud”, is a man with an undeveloped sense of self. Joyce describes how he carries on through life so unattached to his goals, feelings, and desires, as one who is characteristic of this city of Dublin drowned in its paralysis. Joyce writes how he walks through the streets, probably with his head down looking at his feet, passing people who he thinks he is inferior to, but in reality he is not even inferior to himself. He scurries along the dirty dark streets of Dublin on his way. Chandler was a small man, he even “gave one the idea of being a little man. His hands were white and small, his voice was quiet…” From the mere description of Chandler I get the idea that Chandler possess his paralysis in his personal development. It seems as though he has not grown into being a real man.
Through the same yet different token, Gallaher represents a real man. He is a fair-weather friend so to speak as he patronizes “dear dirty Dublin” with his gracious visit and as he rubs the Dubliners’ noses in his success. This is one of his many extensive global trips as he escapes from the hustle and bustle of his successful air in London as a prestigious member of the London Press. Gallaher waits for Chandler in a bar, a real man’s place, for a rendezvous they have to catch up on old times. The first impression of Gallaher is created through his demeanor, as is Chandler’s. He sits with his back against the bar and “his feet planted far apart,” just like a real man who takes up all the space he can. Upon greeting Chandler he initially starts him drinking, hard liquor no less. Then, “Gallaher took off his hat and displayed a large closely cropped head. His face was heavy, pale and clean-shaven. His bluish slate-colour eyes relieved his unhealthy pallor which shone above the vivid orange tie he wore.” Joyce describes the feature of a man who is confident in himself as he shamelessly wears a bald head as not all men can do. Gallaher is indeed successful in his own rite but why does he feel it necessary to come back and revile in his glory? This could be his paralysis shining through his “real man” demeanor.
Moreover with the idea of paralysis through the characters, Mrs. Little Cloud, Annie, marries Chandler, and for what? The two of them are only two years old at marriage and already they are seemingly unhappy and yet they still do not have good communication. In his melancholy moments of thinking about life as he typically becomes sad he thinks about some books from his old days: “…he had been tempted to take one down and read out something to his wife. But shyness had always held him back; and so the books remained on the shelf. At times he repeated lines to himself and this consoled him.” Chandler is now a man who is fairly newly married with a child, a baby boy. Why does he need such consolation from tawdry lines of poetry. Did Annie not see this in her betrothed Little Chandler? Was it her paralysis that allowed herself to marry him in hopes that things would get better? It is only indicative of the paralysis in the city of Dublin in reference to how this couple deals with each other. There are suggested feelings of hate between them yet they do not deal with the situation at all. Why do they have a child so soon? Did they believe it would bring happiness into a marriage that began with none? If the case is exactly that, then these two are typically naïve citizens of Dublin filled with paralysis.
While reading for point of view in “A Little Cloud” I found Joyce’s use of third person omniscient allowed him to voice his opinion about paralyzed Dublin through the deepest thoughts of these characters as well as through their behavior. My ideology supports Joyce’s technique in choosing the point of view of revealing the thoughts of his characters because of the basic plot of this story. The two men were meeting at the bar under pretenses of being dear old friends, yet they are so dissimilar and there may even be resentment between the two of them. Moreover, Chandler is not really the type to give away his thoughts; he does not always know what he wants to do. For example, he has a rendezvous with Gallaher but Little Chandler “halted before the door in indecision” and when he finally entered “ he felt that the people were observing him curiously.” In my humble ideology and personal repertoire I believe that Little Chandler represents a little boy in a man’s body all the while representing the spiritual and psychological paralysis within Dublin, Ireland. Little Chandler, this little boy, cannot express himself; and it is very important that he is able to do so, as he has a family in addition to personal goals and ambitions, which he secretly desires out of life, yet he does nothing about them. In light of these facts, it appears insightful of Joyce to have employed the use of third person omniscient for this story.
Personally, I believe that the epiphany of this story is unwieldy and that it also transpires through a series of events—there are catalytic moments, which perpetuate the ascension of the true actual epiphany. Regarding my transaction with the story, I feel as though the epiphany begins as early as the very beginning of the story with his inadequate feelings towards life. Then meeting his old friend and experiencing feelings of supremacy and superiority yet failure at the same time. I believe it then continues at home with the events between him and his wife. When he finally realizes what he wants: to be released of the responsibility of a family and start to express himself through writing, his paralysis kicks in and enables him to elaborate on trifle excuses so that he cannot accomplish what he desires to do. Then, the true epiphany takes place when all feelings are released between Chandler and Annie as if the proverbial Pandora’s box was opened. Only there was no hope. The hate, resentment, and unhappiness within their marriage and their lives are out in the open in addition to what it is Chandler believes he truly wants from life, only I believe that he regrets the whole situation. Like most people, who see something again for the first time, I believe that as Chandler has “tears of remorse start to his eyes,” he realizes that he has what it was he wanted all along, and it was his paralysis that kept him blind.
In the end nothing is done. After all, what can be done? How do you get things back to old? It is simply impossible. It is from my personal repertoire that I have established that this is the very essence of an epiphany. True, it is a sudden and deep realization; but more than that, it is a realization that changes things in a way that will stay changed forever.

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