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JOYCE
A LITTLE CLOUD
Plot
One evening, a fussy, conservative Dublin clerk known as Little Chandler sets out to meet his old
friend Gallaher at a restaurant called Corless's
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On the way, Little Chandler fantasizes about
succeeding himself, as a writer of poetry
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Characters
Gallagher
Little Chandler
Narrative voice: 1st person narration, is little chandler who is talking
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Themes
Choose between staying in Dublin and the desire to move from Dublin to follow one’s dreams or
desire to have a more successful life
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Epiphany when he sees a photo of his wife that reveals something to the character that is that his
wife doesn't love him and for us the epiphany communicates disillusionment, failure regarding love
Epiphany when he sees the Little cloud that represents paralysis of artist and moral paralysis of
ordinary people > sense of immobility
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Fame that does not make one happier
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When he refers to outdoor places he
gives precise streets to give a more realistic vision of the place and it is one of the characteristic of
Joyce's narrative
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We can say that rather
than describing what he sees, he evokes whatever is connected from the physical places
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The choice of this technique reveals something about the author
that thinks about the past but thinks of his future life elsewhere
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Holohan arranges with Mrs
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When the first
three concerts are sparsely attended, Mrs
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Finally, Mrs
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Characters
There are 2 main sets of characters:



The mother and her daughter
Mr Holohan: organizes concerts

Though the story is still set in an indoor place  Mrs
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There is
probably a satirical attack against the moral values of Dubliners (some of them) in the character
of the mother (desire to climb the social ladder and snobbish attitude)
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Snobbish: not a symbol of a cultivated or positively
determined person
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Role of the mother: central in the whole story (she gives the title to the novel)
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Money is her main
interest
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Role of the daughter and the mother’s husband: secondary (most important characters: Mother and
Holohan)
Themes
Contrast between the aspirations of the mother and the aspiration of the daughter herself
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By describing the complex relationship
between the mother and the daughter ,Joyce highlights the immobility of the artistic life in
Dublin, and by doing this he gives a critical portrait of the moral values of the bourgeoisie
highlighting how much social climbing and snobbery guide the lives of the people living in
Dublin
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The general themes are more or less the same but Joyce really attacks the hypocrisy of the
Dubliners
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The story takes place at Christmas time
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Plot
A professor and part-time book reviewer named Gabriel Conroy attends a Christmastime party
thrown by his aunts (Kate and Julia Morkin, grand dames in the world of Dublin music) at which he
dances with a fellow teacher and delivers a brief speech
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In a hotel room
later, Gabriel is devastated to discover that he has misunderstood Gretta's feelings; she has been
moved by the memory of a young lover named Michael Furey who preceded Gabriel, and who died
for the love of Gretta
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He feels alone and profoundly mortal, but spiritually connected for the first time with
others
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His life is dominated by the idea of failure: as a husband, as a man
– in relation to Lily – and as an Irish man
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Central role (though it is secondary): she means
something special in the life of Gabriel
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Michael Fury: this character appears at the end (he is dead, so he does not appear physically,
he is only mentioned)
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Something
happened to him and she remembers it by listening to a piece of music at the party

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