#LittleManProblems

I feel for Little Chandler. As a vertically challenged man myself, I understand how height can have a significant effect on someone’s psyche. This is especially true in a society like Dublin that emphasizes manliness. For Chandler, the fact that he gives “one the idea of being a little man” (55) means that people will never take him seriously as a man. Despite only being “slightly under the average stature,” (55) due to his little-ness others will always see him as somehow lacking.

As I started to read about Little Chandler, I could not help but think about Oscar De Leon.  Both Chandler and Oscar fail to meet what their respective societies define as masculinity. Chandler cannot be the masculine, woodsman type Irish man so he opts for the Romantic Victorian instead and still fails. When he tries to romantically read poetry to his wife, his “shyness had always held him back.” (56) A man that is to shy to read poetry to his own wife, someone you should have the utmost comfort with, is hardly a man at all. Similarly, Oscar cannot seem to fit into his cultural norm or atomic level G. He spends his entire, short life trying to fulfill the Dominican stereotype, failing at every point along the way.

Both also have role models that perfectly fit their culture’s idea of masculinity. For Chandler, Gallaher perfectly espouses the Victorian man. With his “travelled air, his well-cut tweed suit, and fearless accent,” (55) Gallaher seems like the perfect man. Typical of the educated Dubliner, he even escapes the drudgery of Dublin to live in the “great city London.” (55) Yunior, the consummate Dominican Man (without the violence), acts as Oscar’s role model of sorts throughout the story. Yunior’s constant womanizing and bravado give Oscar something to emulate, even though he ultimately finds a better alternative. Both mentors also make them feel bad in some way. While around Gallaher, even though Gallaher calls him Tommy, the narrator always refers to him as Little Chandler, pointing towards Chandler’s sense of inferiority to Gallaher. Similarly, Oscar always feels like less of a Dominican when Yunior is around because of the comparison between the two. Interestingly, both mentors lead their pupils down questionable paths. Gallaher pressures Chandler into drinking, smoking, and even tries to convince him that Paris is not an immoral city. In the same vein, Yunior constantly tries to get Oscar to be more aggressive with women in an attempt to make him more of a womanizer.

What I cannot figure out, however, is what Joyce is trying to say with Gallaher’s attempted corruption of Chandler. Is he trying to show that even the most upright Dubliner will succumb to the pressures of the outside world? That Dublin may not be that bad in terms of morality compared to the international community? Or maybe even that there is something to be desired in a little depravity?